


Alya Césaire, Journalist Extroardinaire

by peachygreen (fairiesbyte)



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alya-centric, Don't deny it, F/M, Gen, I couldn't stop myself, Investigative Journalism, JTWifi, Or Is he?, So yes, basically its just a story where alya is lois lane, because the turtle mother commanded, gabe is hawkdaddy, gabriel agreste is hawkmoth, i'm in love with jade turtle, idk - Freeform, idk where this will go, im winging it, journalist!alya, mwahahahahahahaha, mystery?, okaaaaay, okay, okay?, other tags will be added, pretty much, she's not oblivious okay guys
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-03
Updated: 2016-05-11
Packaged: 2018-05-31 01:45:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 23,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6450424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fairiesbyte/pseuds/peachygreen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alya is not stupid, she knows what's up.  So when all three of her friends start disappearing, she gets an interesting anonymous tip, and a new superhero shows up on the scene, she knows that something smells fishy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. an auspicious beginning

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Won't Tell a Soul](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6089551) by [Thelastpilot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thelastpilot/pseuds/Thelastpilot). 



> Why am I doing this? I'm already stressed enough ・゜・(ノД`) I have poor self-control.  
> So anyway, this is a spin-off of thelastpilot's Jade Turtle Au. Basically it takes place in a universe where there is Chat Noir and Ladybug but a new superhero just showed up called the Jade Turtle, played by out very own cinnamon roll Nino!!! Unlike in pilot's story, Nino doesn't know Marinette and Adrien's identities, so there's that.  
> I have no idea what I'm doing honestly, I just had to get this out.

Alya’s always dreamed big. 

She wanted to be a unicorn for years until her parents finally broke down and told her that was impossible. 

“You can’t just become something you’re not,” they said, and 5 year old Alya pouted. 

“But what if I’m a unicorn inside and you just don’t know it?” she huffed, crossing her arms.Her mom laughed and kissed her forehead.

“You may not be a unicorn,” she brushed Alya’s curly hair off of her forehead, “but that doesn’t mean you’re not special.” She smiled softly, “Alya, you are the most amazing girl in the entire world.

And Alya believed her.

Well…sort of.Alya knew that she wasn’t the most amazing girl in the world, but she agreed that she was pretty damn great, and anyone who didn’t think so could go fuck themselves. 

So Alya’s dreams, though still big, shifted and transformed, scientist to superhero to dog whisperer to teacher and finally, when she was thirteen, when her journalism teacher handed her a pen and a pad of paper and told her that she had the makings of a great reporter, a world-renowned journalist. 

So she wrote and she wrote and she became editor of her middle school paper, writing and editing reviews and op-eds into the early morning.And don’t even get her started on her Tumblr, her follower count had skyrocketed when she started making text posts and theories about her favorite superheroes.And when she moved to Paris, none of that changed. 

She blogged, she wrote, she signed up for the school newspaper, but when two _actual, real-life superheroes_ showed up, all of that became null because she had the Ladyblog and a insatiable thirst for answers.

 

***

 

Alya had always thought of herself as observant, and she was.Any good journalist had to be.So, it wasn’t that she hadn’t _noticed_ Marinette disappeared a lot with fishy excuses, it was more that…though she always had that buzz in the back of her mind, that _need to know_ , friends came first.And who’s to say that this wasn’t what Marinette normally did, because though they became close fast, they hadn’t actually known each other for that long.They’d only met at the beginning of last school year.Besides, if Marinette was involved in drug dealing, had a secret boyfriend, was actually Ladybug, was having an illicit affair with Chat Noir, was a secret popstar, was in a gang, was an illegal breakdancer, etcetera, she would tell Alya when she felt ready.

So she went along with normal life, pretending she believed Marinette’s excuses, blogging, helping Marinette with her crush on mister shy, blonde supermodel, chasing after Ladybug and Chat Noir, glaring at Chloe, writing for the school paper, pretending she didn’t notice Nino’s bumbling advances, etcetera. 

Marinette’s wild hand gestures snapped Alya out of her thoughts.

“You okay?” She tilted her head and smiling, but small bits of worry creased the corners of her eyes and drew her brows together.Alya almost groaned, that girl as too cute for her own good.

“Yeah, fine,” Alya waved her hand and pushed up her glasses, “so tell me,” she continued, “what did Mr. Tall, Blonde, and Handsome say when you asked him to study in the library?”

Marinette’s smile dropped away and she slouched in her chair.“He said he had a photo shoot at lunch, but that maybe we could get together another time,” Marinette sighed and her lower lip stuck out in a pout.

Alya put her hand on Marinette’s shoulder and used the other to brush her hair out of her face.“He probably was really busy,” she said, looking Marinette straight in her wide eyes, “he’s not just using this as an excuse to not hang out with you.”She brushed her thumb against Marinette’s cheek, “If that boy doesn’t have at least a small crush on you he’s crazy.”

Marinette’s eyes widened before she looked away, laughing nervously.“Yeah right,” she cleared her throat, “So what’s new on the Ladyblog?” Alya patted the side of Marinette’s head and drew her hands away, allowing her the subject change.

“Well…” she began.

 

***

 

Alya could fill up hours, maybe days with all she had to say about Ladybug.She was passionate, and as her mom always said, when she was passionate about something no one could stop her.

“I’m going out,” Alya called to her dad as she walked out the door.She had a couple articles to work on and her favorite place for that was at the cafe by her house.It’s pastries weren’t as good as the Dupain’s, but if she went there she’d just get pulled into the excitable whirlwind that was Marinette.So she walked a few blocks down to Boulangerie Matin. 

It was nice out, so it wasn’t as if walking was a pain.The wind blew her hair out of her face and the sun warmed the back of her coat.Fall was by far her favorite season, not just because it was red (her favorite color, and the color of her favorite superhero), but because it was the season of her birthday.Marinette was probably hard at work on her present already, Alya thought fondly.No matter how busy she was, that girl always made time to do nice things for people.

A tinkling bell sounded as Alya walked through the door of the small cafe.The smell of sweet espresso and buttery croissants rolled over her like a warm hug as she walked the door and as she walked up to the counter she thanked the powers that be that there was only a few people in line in front of her.The smell of pastries made her realize how hungry she was.She scrolled through Twitter as she waited, checking the Ladybug tag, there were no new akumas luckily — Alya had never missed an attack, and she wouldn’t start now — but there was some new fanart.Alya smiled as she scrolled through them and retweeted a couple, and sending messages to a couple to ask about posting them on the Ladyblog.

“The regular?” Asked the cashier, jarring Alya out of her thoughts.She looked up quickly, blinking and nodding.

“Oh, um, yeah.”

The cashier nodded, wringing her up, and Alya handed over her debit card absentmindedly, her mind already on her blog. 

Alya sat down at her normal table and pulled out her tablet, quickly scrolling through the new submissions page of the blog.Fan art, fan art, fanfic, a couple interesting theories (which Alya posted), and some throwaway hate.Alya didn’t really understand she got hate, if people didn’t like her blog, why did they read it? 

She sighed and looked into her inbox, noticing she had a new message.Alya's eyes moved quickly back and forth across the page.It was a detailed map of pictures and articles, drawn arrows pointing and information typed, information leading back to 5 years ago, and at the bottom, in bold, bright red letters: Gabriel Agreste is Hawkmoth.


	2. Is Gabriel Agreste Hawkmoth?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alya always learned from her mistakes (or tried to at least). So, no more thinking Chloe was Ladybug just because she had a mask in her locker, and when she was confronted with a theory from anonymous source, no matter how well-thought out, Alya stopped to think before she made any assumptions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so this chapter is a little stiff, but thats partly because I had to get out the details of the theory, so there wasn't much personality I could put into that.

 

No matter what anyone claimed about her, Alya Césaire was not a fool.She always learned from her mistakes (or tried to at least).So, no more thinking Chloe was Ladybug just because she had a mask in her locker, and when she was confronted with a theory from anonymous source, no matter how well-thought out, Alya stopped to think before she made any assumptions. 

She couldn’t take this at face value, despite evidence that Alya would have jumped on and ran with a year ago.But she’d learned since then.A good journalist never assumes, she thought to herself. 

But one thought plagued her, what if Gabriel Agreste was Hawkmoth?

“Cappuccino and a chocolate croissant?” said a voice from beside her and Alya started.The worker just set her food down, giving her a strange look as they left.Alya took a bite of her croissant as she looked back at her phone, saving the photos before she forgot.She had to admit that some of the information was rather suspicious. 

Gabriel Agreste’s name became well-known seventeen years ago.He was widely considered and amiable man, kind to his employees and hosting parties often.But he nearly disappeared from the public eye about 6 years ago, after his wife’s disappearance. 

Rumors ran rampant for about a year, but after a while the press died down and the public almost seemed to forget that Gabriel had ever been anything other than strict and severe.The public seemed to forget that Alyssandra Agreste had ever existed.

In the years after, there was a surge of layoffs from Gabriel and Co., and the Agreste family was seen less and less in the public eye.The company also seemed to acquire a new logo as a butterfly appeared on many new clothing items.There were pictures of butterflies on shoes and hats and shirts and rings, and eight years ago Gabriel even debuted a line called Le Papillon in London.Not to mention that his runways often featured butterfly-esque designs. 

Alya paused, because this was where the facts ended, her anonymous tip must have come from someone who worked closely with Mr. Agreste because the theory featured private information from this point onward.Private purchases specifically. 

Apparently, according to her source, two years ago Gabriel Agreste seemed to suddenly go mad for antiques.Not antiques in general though, he seemed to be searching for a tie pin and a book, both of which seemed to have special value to him.He bought many books and many pins, pins specifically in the shapes of butterflies.The source speculated that this was a miraculous, the Hawkmoth miraculous, the antithesis of the Ladybug and Chat Noir miraculous’s (the ones that every Akuma victim remembered.)Then there were multiple pictures of Gabriel Agreste and his ever present butterfly tie pin.

The next pictures compared Hawkmoth’s face (made out of a akuma), to a picture of Gabriel Agreste, a facial recognition program proclaiming them a match.There were recordings of Hawkmoth and Gabriel’s voices, documents showing they were exact matches for each other.

According to these facts, Gabriel Agreste was undoubtably Hawkmoth.But here was the question, were they facts?Who’s to say that Hawkmoth himself didn’t send this file to lead Alya off his trail, or it could be a delusional fan looking for entertainment.There was no way to tell if any of this was accurate.

Alya sat back in her seat and took a sip of her cappuccino.But, was it possible?Could Gabriel Agreste be Hawkmoth? 

What would that mean if…if _if_ **if** if Gabriel Agreste _was_ Hawkmoth.

What would that mean for Adrien?

Okay, Alya could admit that she and Adrien weren’t exactly the best of friends.But that was mostly because he kept to himself so much.He kept his public face on around everyone except Nino.But Alya had to admit, she hadn’t exactly tried to reach out to him. 

She hoped for his sake that Gabriel _wasn’t_ Hawkmoth.

And she had to admit, the evidence _was_ circumstantial at best and half of the theory _could_ have been completely fabricated…but, **_but,_** now Alya was curious.And curiosity may have killed the cat but, and Chat Noir’s smirk curled in her mind as she thought, the satisfaction brought it back.

 

***

 

Alya hardly remembered the walk home, she just kept turning ideas over and over in her mind.But she tried not to make too many opinions before she really got to her research.

“I’m home,” she called as she jiggled the lock on the front door, and a muffled affirmation sounded from inside.As soon as Alya stepped through the door she was tackled.

“Alya, Alya, Alya,” whined one of her sisters as she hooked herself onto one of Alya’s legs while the other just cried, yanking on her sleeve.Alya sighed and locked the door, leaning her against it for a moment as she took a deep breath.

“Alright,” she said with a smile on her face as she picked up Anna Sophie, the youngest who was hanging on her leg, and took the hand of Elodie, leading them into the living room.“Now who wants to watch a movie?” 

They both immediately stood to attention, eyes wide as they nodded, both girls chiming out an excited “me!”

Alya smiled.“Well which movie would you like to watch?” she asked almost bracing herself for the argument she was sure would follow. 

“Tom Thumb!”

“C'est pas ma faute!” The girls shouted at the same time before looking at each other and immediately beginning to argue.

Alya sighed and pushed her glasses up her nose before bending down and trying to find a movie they both would like.The two finally settled on I, Cesar, and Alya left them to their show. 

She hitched her bag up her shoulder and walked into the kitchen.

“Dad?” she called, “Mom?”

“They’re not here,” grumbled a voice from the doorway.

Alya turned and looked at the oldest of her siblings, Eyva.“Where are they then?”

Eyva sighed and crossed her arms, rolling her eyes in the way that only children just on the cusp of young adulthood could.“What do you think?They’re too busy for us again.Mom’s working and Dad’s doing whatever he does in his room,” Eyva flipped her side bangs over her eyes.“Like they are every night.”

Alya bit her lip and stepped toward Eyva, putting her hand on the 13 year old’s cheek and rubbing her thumb across the cheekbone.She couldn’t deny that her parents were busy people, but she just wished it wasn’t affecting her sisters like this. 

“They’re not too busy for you ma petite puce, you know that,” she brushed Eyva’s bangs behind her ear.“Its just more expensive to live in Paris, you know that, so Mama has to work longer hours.And the hotel works her really hard,” Alya patted her sister’s hair.“She just wants the best for you.”

Eyva sighed and hugged her older sister.“I know Mama works hard for us, I just miss her,” she turned her face into Alya’s shoulder.“But what about Papa?” asked her muffled voice, her hazel eyes gazing up at Alya sadly.

Alya sighed and brushed her hands down her back.“Well you know how he gets,” she said, trying not to let the tiredness seep into her voice, “he’s a writer, and when he get’s an idea, he isn’t aware of anything else.”

Eyva nodded and pulled away a bit, tugging on the ends of her blue shirt. 

“Did you have dinner?” Alya asked, pulling away fully, flipping the ends of her ombre hair over her shoulder.Eyva shook her head and Alya let out a long breath through puckered lips.“Alright then, Anna and Elodie are watching a movie, where’s Maili?”A guilty look flashed across her face and she looked away.Alya rolled her eyes.“You might want to work on your poker pace mon boutd’chou.Now what did you do to your sister?”

Eyva eventually broke down and unlocked her sister from the closet she’d apparently shut her in after Maili stole some of her clothes (for which the teen’s consequence was her phone being taken away for a day), Alya made some asparagus pasta, and got the girls to bed. 

At around 10 Alya collapsed into her comforter and groaned.She was so tired. 

She listened to music for a little while and wrote a couple blog posts, trying not to think about what had happened today. She was the only one who didn’t have to share a room so she didn’t have to worry about being to quiet. She was too tired to think about who may or not be a villain, so she thought maybe some fanfic would lift her spirits.But as she scrolled through Twitter she noticed something on the Ladybug tag: Akuma Spotted in the Latin Quarter, Ladybug Yet to Arrive. 

Alya smiled and slid out of bed, pulling her shoes on.Maybe this would lift her spirits.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anna Sophie 3  
> Elodie 5  
> Maili 9  
> Eyva 13  
> Alya 16 almost 17
> 
> Ma petite puce: my little love  
> mon boutd’chou: little tot
> 
> edit: apparently ma petite puce actually translates to "my little flea" and that's used as an endearment in France.


	3. Maybe Alya Shouldn't Put Herself In Danger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Well if I knew about the pretty reporter, I would have been here sooner,” came a distinctive voice from around her back.  
> Alya’s eyes shot open and she came to the realization that she in a fireman’s hold, flying away from the Akuma, and currently staring at Jade Turtle’s ass.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I never said I could write battle scenes.

Alya tucked her leggings into her sneakers and pulled on her warmest sweater and hat.She quickly grabbed a pen and a pad of paper, stuffing them into her bag as she slipped her phone into her pocket, slowly turning the knob on her bedroom door and peeking into the hallway.Light shone from underneath the door of her parents’ bedroom and Alya cursed softly.But she could do this, she thought to herself. 

No matter how many times she snuck out, her heart always raced as she tiptoed through the den and crept out the kitchen window onto the fire escape.She slowly pushed the window closed, trying to be as quiet as possible, and stepped carefully toward the end of the metal platform.Alya made sure to watch her step as she climbed down the ladder (she’d learned her lesson after falling once that it was hard to keep bruises from your parents) and onto the next platform.When she got to the last one she tried to let down the ladder slowly but startled when it flew down with a jarring crash.

Alya crouched into the shadows and held her breath, but when, after a couple minutes, no one had come out, she felt it was safe to continue.As she jogged down the street Alya pulled out her phone and checked Twitter.

According to the Ladybug tag and the Ladyblog, the Akuma was actually heading towards her.Alya grinned, well that was good luck.It was also good luck that Alya had done this sort of thing so much, because she was able to start up a blog post as she ran the next few blocks. 

Just as she was getting out of breath, Alya began to hear the screams.She quickly switched to her camera app and began to video.

“Chat Noir, on the left!” hollered Ladybug as she swung around what seemed to be a spider themed akuma. 

“I am the Widow,” roared the Akuma, baring its long, red-tipped fangs, “and I’ll show you what a real man-eater looks like!”Thick webbing shot out towards Ladybug, but she dodged at the last minute.

“The Akuma seems to be called the Widow,” Alya filmed herself saying as she ducked behind a building.She switched the camera to the other side and zoomed into Widow.“Her spider like body makes the reference to a black widow obvious.Maybe her husband died, that would be sad.” Aya swung the camera towards Ladybug.“Ladybug is fighting and seems to be communicating with Chat Noir, but I haven’t actually caught sight of either the black cat to the Jade Turtle yet.Maybe they’re trying to be covert.

“Ladybug hasn’t seemed to figure out what the akumatized item is yet either.”Aya hummed and focused her camera on the Akuma as it swiped and jabbed at the super heroine.“She has human-like hands, so if it has something to do with the husband its probably in a ring.Does she have a ring on?”Alya zoomed in on her hands.“She does, that’s it!”Alya whispered excitedly.

She slipped out of her hiding spot and crept closer to the fight just as Chat Noir appeared.Appeared because he was fished out of the Seine with Ladybug’s yoyo.

Chat Noir came up sputtering, but the first thing he said as soon as he shook the dirty water out of his hair was, “nice day for fly fishing My Lady.”

“Merde, that was terrible,” Alya groaned as she ducked behind a post box.She stuck her camera slightly out of her hiding spot.“Chat Noir must have been flung into the Seine early in the fight.”Alya pursed her lips as she zoomed out to catch the battle going on, “but where _is_ Jade Turtle?”

Alya watched the battle for a while, adding commentary here and there and moving hiding spots as the battle migrated across the city. 

As Ladybug and Chat Noir seemed to get more and more stumped, Alya got more and more frustrated.“Its in the ring,” she hissed, hoping they would put it together.But she supposed they were focusing too much on not dying to put together the pieces like she did.But enough was enough, Alya thought to herself.

“Okay,” Alya said, facing the camera towards herself once again as she shifted in her crouch.“Ladybug and Chat Noir are not seeing the connection, so I’m going to tell them and hopefully not get killed in the process.”She switched the camera back around and stood up from her hiding place, running toward where the superheroes were fighting.

“Ladybug,” Alya screamed as loud as she could, and the super heroine’s head whipped towards her.As she saw who it was her eyes seemed to widen and her mouth stretched into a horrified “O.”

“Alya?”she screeched, “What are you doing here?!” 

“Its in the ring!”Alya yelled and after a moment of confusion, Ladybug’s eyes dawned with realization, and Alya could see the determination forming in her expression.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here?”Alya froze as she heard the sinister voice directed towards her.Widow scuttled towards her on her many thin legs.“Looks like I’m about to have a fly caught in my web.”

“Whelp, I’m dead,” Alya whispered as she turned tail and bolted.She heard the squelch of webbing shoot out towards her and braced to be trapped against a building and probably killed. She reached the end of a dead end street and closed her eyes tightly, tensing her body.But instead of the sticky webbing she’d expected to hit her. her waist was grabbed by something hard and yanked in a completely opposite direction.

“Well if I knew about the pretty reporter, I would have been here sooner,” came a distinctive voice from around her back. 

Alya’s eyes shot open and she came to the realization that she in a fireman’s hold, flying away from the Akuma, and currently staring at Jade Turtle’s ass. 

Alya yelped and squirmed and attempted to get upright, but Jade Turtle wasn’t exactly being cooperative.

“Hey, hey dude!” He half laughed half yelped, “Chill out, I’ve got you!”

Alya ended up in his arms princess style, arms crossed and glaring.“The Akuma’s in the ring,” she said urgently, “I need to tell Ladybug.”

Jade Turtle shook his head.“I think you need to stay out of Akuma battles,” he said. “Plus, I think she’s already got it,” he continued as Ladybug’s Miraculous Cure covered the city in a wave of ladybugs.

Alya groaned.“I missed the end of the fight,” she grumbled, “that’s the best part.”

Jade Turtle glided his shell down to the road and set her down on the side walk surprisingly close to her house.“Hey listen,” he said, grabbing her hand before she could walk away.“You need to be more careful, you could get really hurt out there.”

Alya rolled her eyes and pulled her hand away, stuffing it in the pocket of her coat.“A good reporter does whatever it takes to get the story.”

Jade Turtle laughed and shook his head.“Dude!Not at the sake of your own safety,” pushed his hood back and ran his hand through his hair.“Your life comes before the story.”He met her eyes with a surprising amount of intensity and Alya was a bit taken aback.

She broke eye contact, clearing her throat.“So where were you?”She pushed her glasses up her nose.“Just show up to the battle to save the damsel in distress?”

Jade blushed a bit, and scratched his nose.“Actually,” he coughed, “I didn’t even know there was an Akuma attack until I read it on the ‘damsel’s’ blog.” He put air quotes around the word damsel.

Alya’s eyes widened and she shifted from foot to foot.“You read my blog?”

“Yeah dude!” Jade Turtle grinned, “Your blog is totally rad.Its off the hizzle!”

“Off the hizzle?” Alya snorted incredulously, her eyebrows rising.

“Yeah, its a thing,” Jade crossed his arms defensively but a smile curled the corners of his mouth.

“Yeah,” Alya nodded sarcastically, “okay.Hey, wait,” she paused, “that means that line you used earlier doesn’t even make sense!”

“Oh yeah,” Jade looked down sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck, “I was trying out a new line.Trying to be more smooth,” he moved his arm in a sweeping motion.“I hear that’s how you get the girls.” He waggled his eyebrows.

Aya rolled her eyes and smirked.“You’re such a dork.Who told you that, Chat Noir?”

“Maybe,” Jade Turtle pouted. 

Alya laughed and checked her phone.There were only 5 hours until school started.She groaned.“Okay,” she said, rubbing her eyes, “I should go if I want to get any sleep at all tonight.”Alya backed up a couple steps and made finger guns, pointing them at the superhero awkwardly.“Well, Its been real,’ she said as she turned and walked toward her family’s apartment, thoughts on her warm bed.

“Nice to meet you reporter girl!” shouted a voice from behind her.

“Its Alya,” she called over her shoulder.

“Nice to meet you Alya!”

She shook her head a laughed as she climbed back up the fire escape and slipped through the house to her bedroom, landing face-first on her bed. 

She turned over and groaned as her brain ran over the events of the night.She drew her hands up to cover her face. 

“That was so embarrassing,” she whispered, but it was muffled by her hands. 

After laying there for a few minutes and waiting for her blush to fade, she shook off her embarrassment and went over to her computer to upload the video she’d taken. 

About a minute after it posted a comment popped up.

Turtleguy111: Your blog’s not the only thing that’s off the hizzle Ms. Reporter ;)

Alya went to sleep with a smile on her face. 


	4. ...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there is introspection.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that this is not exactly accurate to the french school system, but its easier to just keep it this way okay *sweats nervously* okay bye.

Alya waked to school in a daze, but she snapped awake when Marinette handed her a sweet smelling bag and a styrofoam cup of coffee.She set them in Alya’s sleep-deprived hands and Alya gazed up at her, with tears almost forming in her eyes.

“Bless you my sweet friend, bless you.”She blew over the top of the drink and took a sip of the liquid.“Oh sweet blessed goddess of caffeine, you have blessed me with your nectar on this sacred day.” Marinette laughed and bumped Alya’s shoulder with hers.

“You are such a dork,” Marinette smiling around the lip of her own coffee.

“But you love me,” Alya flipped her hair and smirked, slightly more awake.

“Yeah,” Marinette linked her arm through her friend’s and pulled her towards he classroom, “I do.”

“Mon dieu,” moaned Nino as they walked into the classroom.“Its too early for your mushy bromance dudes,” he looked up at them from where his head lay on the desk.Alya rolled her eyes.

“Oh shut up Nino, you do the same thing with Mr. Model,” she took off her backpack and sat down at her desk.“Why are you so tired anyway?”

“You know me,” Nino sat up and laughed a little stiffly, “I was laying down some new tracks.”The awkwardness melted out of his shoulders as he grinned, honestly excited about his music.“I’m telling you Al, my new mix tape is fire!”He grinned with his whole body ad Alya couldn’t help but return the smile a little bit.

“We should listen to it sometime,” chimed Marinette from her side and Alya started, she’d almost forgotten she was there.Nino seemed a bit surprised too but his smile got even bigger when he turned to her. 

“That would be so rad!” Nino exclaimed before his eyebrows drew together a bit, looking closely at the dark haired girl.“Are you okay Mari?You seem a bit tired.”

Alya turned and studied her friend.He was right, Marinette did look pretty awful.Her blue hair had lost its sheen and her face was pale, except for the dark circles that stood out sharply from under her tired eyes. 

“Oh,” she giggled nervously and waved her hand around in the air dismissively, “you know me when I get inspiration.I spent all night sewing.”

Alya’s eyes narrowed, something smelled fishy.

“It looks like all of us need to take better care of ourselves.”The three started, turning in time to see their blonde haired friend walking through the door.

“A-A-Adrien!” Marinette yelped, almost tipping over her seat with her enthusiastic waving.The model quirked and eyebrow in return as he smiled sweetly at her.

“Hi, Marinette.”

“Hi,” she responded, smiling goofily at him.

Though most of her was growing fondly exasperated with her friend’s inability to talk to her crush, the rest of Alya froze.All of the suspicions and curiosity she’d been repressing came back in that moment and she must have look horrified because Adrien gave her a strange look as he sat down.

“Dude,” Nino hugged his friend, “Why did you stay up late?Doesn’t Nathalie, like, schedule your bedtime or something?”

Adrien laughed, but didn’t get to reply because class began.But as the rest of the class pulled out their tablets and began to take notes, Alya was still staring at her desk.

She didn’t want to think about this, she didn’t want to entertain the possibility of Adrien’s father being a supervillain.It scared her.

But why, she thought to herself.Why did this scare her so much?Was it because it was Adrien, someone who she, frankly, pitied?Was she scared for him?

Alya would like to think so, that would make her feel good about herself.That would make her selfless. 

But Alya never liked lying to herself.So why did this scare her so much?

Was it because it was Gabriel Agreste?Maybe it was that he was someone that she knew of and was connected to through her classmates.Maybe it was that it was frightening to think that a supervillain could be so close to her.

But no, Alya thought about it, it wasn’t that.It was, the idea of finding out Hawkmoth’s identity in general? 

No, the truth dawned in Alya’s mind.It was just thinking about Hawkmoth.She was afraid of Hawkmoth, Alya realized.Why, though?

Alya glanced over at Marinette and noticed that she was studiously taking notes, she realized she should probably at least take our her tablet to make it seem like she was paying attention.Alya did that and sat back in her seat, looking at the blank screen.

Why as she afraid of Hawkmoth?She wasn’t afraid of Akuma, she ran after them all the time with no regard for her safety.Alya rolled her stylus through her fingers before pausing.Oh wow Alya, she thought to herself, that’s pretty pathetic.She was afraid of Hawkmoth because he’d gotten her.

Thinking about Hawkmoth reminded her of the revenge-fueled rage and hatred that led to her own akumatization as Lady Wifi. 

Alya rubbed her head as she felt a headache forming in her temples.That was stupid, she thought to herself, she should just get over it.It had happened to nearly everyone in her class anyways, it wasn’t like she was weaker than them (well weaker than Marinette and Adrien, but they were both too self-deprecating to ever blame their problems on someone else.) 

But, it was just that…when she’d been akumatized she’d _hurt_ people.She hadn’t cared about anyone but herself. She hadn’t had any control over herself or her feelings.She’d just been manipulated like a pathetic puppet, tossed too and fro by someone stronger than her.Alya clenched her teeth.Why was she still hung up on this?She should be _over_ this, she **was** over this!

Alya started when she felt Marinette’s hand prying her stylus from her tight grip.Her hazel eyes met concerned blue and Marinette mouthed, ‘are you okay?’ 

Alya nodded and shrugged, loosening her grip, smiling and sending a thumbs up her friend’s way.But Marinette still looked concerned.Alya turned back to her tablet, half heartedly taking some notes, and Marinette looked appeased for the moment, but Alya knew she’d have to do some explaining later.She felt a little guilty for worrying her friend, but she shook it off and went back to her thoughts.

Okay, so maybe she wasn’t as over it as she thought.

But things like that left marks, right?Alya bit her lip and furrowed her brow.Everyone had baggage and things that bothered them, she shouldn’t let it affect her so much.So she took her anxiety and fear and shoved into a little box in the corner of her mind, resolving never to think about it again.She was fine.She was **fine**.

Okay, okay, Alya thought to herself, taking a deep breath and centering herself.So back to thinking about things objectively.Adrien.

Poor Adrien _honestly_ , Alya rested her chin on her crossed arms and stared at the back of Adrien’s perfectly coiffed blonde hair.(Well, not so perfectly coiffed today, but he’d said he’d been tired.)That boy could use a vacation, she thought, remembering his hectic schedule from the (extremely stalkerish) poster that Marinette had in her room.Chinese, piano, advanced physics, fencing, school work, and photo shoots on top of all that.When did he even have time to sleep?!

Alya shook her head, she couldn’t even imagine being that busy.He even have time for his social life, not that he had much of one in the first place.Social awkwardness and the incriminating fact of being childhood friends with Chloe virtually eliminated most of his friendship prospects.Luckily he had Nino, and Nino was a great friend, she thought.But having one friend _in all_ was kind of sad, Alya thought. 

She should be his friend, she realized.She could show him the wondrous world of having a “squad.”If she explained it to Marinette, she might even get over her stutter out of pure sympathy and enthusiasm.

Yes, Alya smirked as she thought (ignoring the small cruel part of her that whispered that this was a good way to get information on Adrien’s father) and decided that she and Adrien were going to become the best of friends, whether he wanted to or not.


	5. and all those passing feelings, they never told me what they meant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All Alya could think in that moment was that this situation was like one of those cheesy Chat Noir x Reader fanfics. You know, the ones where Chat Noir, like, saves some girl from getting hit by a car and then they immediately fall in love and go back to the girl's apartment to have some steamy sex. (Alya was a little ashamed of how many of those she had read.)   
> But Alya was no Mary Sue, and Jade Turtle was definitely not Chat Noir.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from Magnifying Glass, by Girlpool.

As soon as the bell rang Alya lunged out of her seat and tapped Adrien on the shoulder. 

He barely got a chance to turn and acknowledge her before she spoke.“Sit with us at lunch,” she demanded, ignoring the crazed and confused looks that Marinette and Nino were giving her.She focused on Adrien, looking intensely in his eyes.

He looked a little scared as he answered hesitantly, “Alright,” he glanced over at Nino, who shrugged, “Um, I brought my lunch though, so I was just going to eat here.”

“That’s fine,” Alya waved her hand dismissively, “Nino can just run to Urfa Dürüm and grab us some sandwiches.”

“Hey—“ Nino exclaimed, but Alya kept talking.

“Then we can eat in the park,” she looked at him eagerly while subtly setting her hand down on Marinette’s vibrating thigh.Marinette just kept getting redder and redder, and Alya began to feel legitimately afraid that she would explode.But Alya’s touch seemed to calm her down a little bit.Well…at least she stopped shaking. 

“Does that sound okay?” Alya continued, turning her eyes back to the confused looking model in front of her. 

“Uh,” Adrien’s eyes were wide and he just stared at her for a moment before he seemed to come back to himself.He cleared his throat and scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.“S-sure,” he looked away, startling at the sight of the tomato that was Marinette and furrowing his eyebrows before slowly turning back to Alya.“Sure…yes, let’s eat in the park.”He smiled at Alya, if a little stiffly, but the reporter was satisfied.This would be great.

“What if I don’t want to get you sandwiches?” Nino grumbled as the friends packed up their bags and began to leave the classroom.“You can’t just tell me what to do.”

Alya rolled her eyes.

 

***

 

It had gone well, Alya decided as she stood, crowded by the other riders on the metro.Yes, she thought as she adjusted her bag so it was under her coat, eyeing the shifty-eyed man next to her, it had gone extremely well, even if it had been a little awkward at first. 

Nino had reluctantly agreed to grab food for them and Adrien, Marinette, and Alya had walked to the park in silence.But Alya had eventually decided that the awkward silence was enough and asked Adrien about what tv shows he liked. 

It had turned our he was a total weeb!Alya stifled a giggle and the woman next to her gave her a strange look.Alya rolled her eyes and pulled out her phone, pretending she was scrolling through it.

Adrien had started talking about his anime collection and Alya had laughed.She’d said was used to anime nerds because Marinette was the biggest nerd of them all. 

Adrien had turned to her friend with wide eyes and a grin that couldn’t be contained.He’d asked her about her favorite shows and Marinette’s awkwardness melted away as soon as they began debating about reboots and magical girl tv shows.Her stutter had virtually disappeared with her shyness, and she had almost swung to the other extreme when they started talking about the merits of Sailor Moon: original versus Crystal, manga versus the live action tv show.Marinette had gotten a little…passionate. 

And that was putting it nicely.

But Adrien had seemed to love her ire, a satisfaction in his eyes that Alya just couldn’t explain.But regardless, by the time Nino got back with the sandwiches, the two were the best of friends.

It was actually a little strange how comfortable they got with each other so quickly.There was almost a…familiarity to their actions.It was puzzling, but Alya set aside that thought to think about later and smiled as she got off at her stop.

Operation Squad (and low-key Operation Make Marinette and Adrien See How Perfect They Were For Each Other, or alternatively, Operation Adrienette) was officially in motion.

 

***

 

She should really work out more, Alya thought to herself as she hitched the heavy grocery bag up her arms once again.Maybe she could do some weights? Go running?Maybe she could ask what exercise regiment Marinette was on, because let her just say, that girl was _in shape_.(Which, you know, was kind of weird, because that girl was the clumsiest person Alya had ever met.)But Alya sighed and looked at the flab under arms, yeah, that wasn’t happening anytime soon. 

Why did the metro have to choose right now to shut down, Alya internally groaned as she almost tripped over a crack in the sidewalk and spilled the groceries everywhere.It was already getting late and dread curled in her stomach just thinking about all of the homework she had to do. 

But Alya sighed again and just kept walking.

Well..at least until she was grabbed by the arm and pulled into an alleyway.

“What the fuck?” She screeched, watching the groceries roll across the ground.“Why?Why me?”Alya felt like she was about to cry.

“You-You better drop the purse on the ground,” Alya lifted her eyes to the black clad man, no, boy who was shakily holding a knife towards her.Somewhere inside, Alya was freaking out, but maybe it was the adrenaline because Alya mainly felt really annoyed.Like, how dare this guy (this obviously inexperienced, probably teenage guy) interrupt her night for this.I mean, Alya thought, if she was going to be mugged, couldn’t it be by someone big and scary so she could, like, tell a good story about it or something.This was just a nuisance.

But, he still had a knife, so Alya crouched down and began to pull her purse off her shoulder.She tried to covertly stick her hand in the back pocket and grab her pepper spray, but the mugger must have noticed because he took a couple steps closer and waved his knife.

Alya froze and he spoke.“No funny business, the purse on the ground,” though his voice still shook, the mugger seemed to gaining confidence, which couldn’t bode well for Alya. 

“Okay, okay,” she mumbled, bringing the strap over her head and slowly standing up.“Okay, I did what you want, can I go?” Alya just wanted to get home.

The mugger, seemed uncertain of what he should do next, like he’d only thought his plan out this far. 

“No, your phone too.”

Alya sighed and tears of frustration built up in her eyes.Well there goes the Ladyblog, she thought to herself, it wasn’t like her parents could afford a new phone for her.Alya wanted to scream, but she pulled her phone out of her pocket and held it out.

“On the ground,” he said, or growled, rather.

Alya crouched down.

“No stop,” said a voice from behind her.“Stand back up Ms. Reporter.” 

Mon dieu, Alya thought to herself, standing up slowly.And if she thought this situation couldn’t get any more cliche, a superhero shows up to save the helpless reporter.Was she Lois Lane or something?

And as her savior moved towards the mugger, who was frozen in shock, all Alya could think about was that this situation was like one of those cheesy Chat Noir x Reader fanfics.You know, the ones where Chat Noir, like, saves some girl from getting hit by a car and then they immediately fall in love and go back to the girl's apartment to have some steamy sex.(Alya was a little ashamed of how many of those she had read.) 

But Alya was no Mary Sue, and Jade Turtle was definitely not Chat Noir.

“There are other options dude,” Jade Turtle walked slowly towards the man, holding his gloved hands in front of him. 

The mugger’s eyes were wide and something must have kicked in, like a fight or flight instinct or something, because instead of just setting the knife down and walking away (because Jade Turtle was a _fucking superhero_ ) he lunged.

Alya yelled and took a step forward, but Jade had it covered.He grabbed the mugger’s wrist and in a smooth move, twisted it behind his back and pressed him up against the wall of the alley tightly.

“You don’t want to do that,” he said and the mugger whimpered.“Hey, Alya?”

“Um,” Alya cleared her throat and shuffled her feet awkwardly, “Y-yes?”

“Could you do a bro a favor and call the police?” Jade Turtle asked, smiling over his shoulder at her.

“Oh,” Alya fumbled for her phone, “of course.”

 

***

 

Alya stood against the wall with her arms crossed until the police showed up.The adrenaline had worn off a while ago and now she just felt extremely tired.Ugh, why did this have to happen tonight?The girls were probably wondering where she was, and she didn’t even have dinner for them now that the groceries were ruined. 

Alya groaned out loud, turning around and hitting her head repeatedly against the wall of the alley until she hit something that wasn’t quite so hard, like maybe Jade Turtle’s hand.

She opened her eyes and glared up at her savior.“Just leave me to my misery,” she groaned dramatically, turning back around and leaning back against the wall, closing her eyes.

“Don’t be so dramatic,” he said. laughing a bit and slinging an arm around her shoulders, leading her out of the alley. 

“Don’t tell me what to do,” Alya grumbled, pouting a bit.Jade Turtle laughed, but after a minute of comfortable silence he stopped walking and turned to her.

“Are you okay?” His voice was serious, and he looked directly into her eyes.Alya wanted to brush him off, but something in his eyes made her take him seriously.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she smiled a little, pushing her glasses up her nose as she looked away.“I’m just a little shook up is all.”She laughed a little awkwardly.

“I’m glad,” he replied and Alya looked back at him, he was looking at her so intensely, like he saw her. 

She cleared her throat and laughed a little.“Its not that big of a deal,” she started walking again, “I mean, if the mugger had been scarier I might have had a good story at least.”She huffed, “But no, I get the newbie criminal.Just my luck.”

Jade scoffed.“Bigger, she says. _Dude_ ,” he rolled his eyes.“I can’t even believe you.” he was silent for a second before he seemed to realize the rest of what she said.“Hey!You got saved by a superhero, that’s a good story!”His indignant face was so cute, Alya couldn’t hold herself back and she laughed so hard tears formed in her eyes.Jade glanced over at her, a fond smile curling the edges of his mouth.“I mean, you could tell all your friends how the great Jade Turtle saved you from being killed!”He flexed the arm that wasn’t around her, “I am rather heroic after all.”

Alya snorted.“Okay _Chat Noir_.”Jade huffed, but he was still smiling.

They walked in comfortable silence for a couple blocks until Alya glanced at him out of the corner of her eye.“You don’t need to walk me home you know,” she tucked her hair behind her ear.“I can take care of myself.”

“Oh, I know,” the superhero replied, “but I just want to make sure that all the baddies know that if they want to mess with you they gotta go through me,” he thrust out his chest and put his free hand on his hip in a way that he probably thought looked heroic. 

Alya huffed a laugh.“Okay, you don’t need to do that.But okay.”

Jade was silent for a moment.“I know I don’t have to.” He looked at her out of the corner of his eye.“I want to.”

“Okay,” Alya’s voice was small as she met his hazel eyes.After a moment, he smiled and turned away, but the strange mood still hung over them. 

The rest of the walk to Alya’s apartment was mostly silent, but…comfortable, yeah.She felt comfortable around him, which was a little strange, considering the fact that they hadn’t interacted that much, and he was a superhero.But Alya didn’t question it, sometimes people just clicked.

“This is me,” Alya said, as they stopped in front of her apartment building.”So…” she scooted out from under his arm awkwardly.“I guess I’ll take my leave then.” All of the sudden everything felt really awkward.“It was good, um, talking to you.Uh, thanks for saving me.”She fiddled with the hem of her shirt as she backed up a few steps. 

“Yeah,” the superhero said, scratching his nose awkwardly. His face grew red, “I liked hanging out with you,” he shuffled his feet, “so yeah, we should do this again. Except without the whole saving you from a mugger thing.”

“Sure,” Alya said, smiling a bit and waving as she turned to leave.As she got to the door of the building, Jade Turtle called out behind her.

“Yo, reporter girl!”He hollered and Alya turned.“I think you’re really cool!”He hopped on his shell and flew away, but not before Alya heard him humming the first few notes of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme song.

 

***

 

Alya groaned as the ringing doorbell amplified her headache.She gently pulled Elodie off her leg and resigned herself to answering the door with Anna Sophie in her arms. 

“Eyva!” she called, “Can you stir the pasta while I answer the door?”Her answer was a screech and the sound of running feet which she took to mean an agreement.

Alya sighed and opened the door.“Yes?” She asked but there was no one there. 

Alya set down her sister and looked down the hall.Nobody. 

What the fuck, Alya thought to herself, _merde_ she was done with this day. 

“Are you going to get the food?”Maili asked from behind her and Alya looked over her shoulder.

“What food?”

Maili rolled her eyes and pointed to the floor.“The one right there, can’t you see?”

Alya gave her a warning look but glanced down and there it was.A small white takeout bag with the words L’As Du Fallafel on it.Alya bent down and picked it up. 

Inside was more than enough food to feed six people and a note that laid on top.

_Sorry about your groceries, this one’s on me._

_Love, Michaelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael, and Donatello ;)_

Alya smiled and shook her head. 

Dumb turtle.


	6. hot one you know you want it, then when you find you got it, you call me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He probably thought Alya didn’t notice, but he kept looking at her out of the corner of his eye and like shaking his head. Maybe he had something to tell her? He kept giving her strange looks and not really talking. That was the weirdest part too, Alya thought, because Nino was a talker. Once you got that boy started he would just not shut up, no matter how many hints you gave him. So you could see how Nino’s silence was a little unnerving.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title: Blah Blah Blah by Girlpool
> 
> Be kind to my turtle son.

Class seemed like it took years rather than hours that morning and Alya almost cried with relief when the lunch bell finally rang. 

“I am sooooo hungry,” groaned Nino as he clutched his stomach.“My stomach has been growling through, like, the last three hours of classes.” 

Adrien laughed.“I have money for lunch today, so why don’t we go out?”

“You could come with us,” Alya said, pausing from packing up her bag.

“Yeah,” Marinette agreed, her face coloring, “there’s this good cafe down the street that we usually go to,” she played with the ends of her pigtails, growing quieter as Adrien met her eyes.“You could, um, come with us if you like.”

Adrien smiled, scratching the back of his neck a little awkwardly.“That would be fun!I liked hanging out with you guys yesterday.”He and Marinette smiled at each other, seemingly forgetting their other friends’ existence.

Nino rolled his eyes and Alya cleared her throat.“So, should we get going?”Adrien and Marinette jolted out of their trance and looked around, seeing that the rest of the class had already left for lunch.

Alya rolled her eyes as they laughed awkwardly and agreed.

 

***

 

The walk to the cafe was a little awkward.For Alya though, not Adrien and Marinette, they were getting on like a house on fire.But Nino was acting really weird.

He probably thought Alya didn’t notice, but he kept looking at her out of the corner of his eye and, like, shaking his head.Maybe he had something to tell her?He kept giving her strange looks and not really talking.That was the weirdest part too, Alya thought, because Nino was a talker.Once you got that boy started he would just _not shut up_ , no matter how many hints you gave him.So you could see how Nino’s silence was a little unnerving.

Alya pursed her lips.Most of their interactions had been a little awkward since they’d got trapped in the zoo together last year, but Alya had been doing her best to ignore the elephant in the room.It was always a little awkward though, how she always had to try to subtly change the subject when he asked her out.(She was too busy with the blog, _okay_?Besides, he jumped to her too fast after like Marinette anyway, so he probably didn’t even like her.) 

But this was different than that awkwardness and it was making Alya a little worried.Had she done something to offend him?She didn’t think so, but who knows.Alya didn’t really have much of a filter, so it was hard to tell. 

He sure was acting like he had something to tell her though.Maybe he was going to ask her out again, Alya groaned internally.Please let it not be that, she thought.

But no, Alya glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, ignoring the giggling pair in front of her.No, he was _definitely_ upset.His arms were crossed and his back was all tense, his facial expression was all pouty too. (Mon dieu, that boy was an open book!)HIs body language screamed, “upset but I don’t want to talk about it.” 

But Nino was a total blabber mouth, she didn’t think he’d ever kept a secret in his life.So, she thought with satisfaction, he’d tell her what was bothering him soon enough.

“We’re here,” Marinette interrupted her train of thought and Alya jumped, she hadn’t noticed that they’d already reached the restaurant. 

“Its cute,” Adrien said, as they walked inside, and that was true.But the ambiance wasn’t the only reason she came here, their tomato garlic soup made her mouth water just thinking about it.Talk about a foodgasm.

Marinette and Adrien went up to the counter to order the food while her and Nino grabbed a table by the window.Oooh, look at her babies interacting, Alya thought to herself as a grin spread across her face, Adrienette was _so_ totally canon. 

But the grin faded a bit when she looked over at Nino.He was tapping his leg and playing on his phone with a brooding look on his face. Alya huffed, couldn’t he just get over what was bothering him already and just talk to her?What was his problem, Alya thought to herself, eyebrows drawing together in frustration. 

She opened her mouth and was about to speak, but Adrien and Mari came back, smiles on their faces as they talked about video games or something.Whatever, Alya thought to herself, pouting a little, she would ask him what was up his ass later.But for now, she was just going to enjoy the show.

Alya watched her two friends interact for a while, but when Marinette started telling stories of how she always beat Alya into the ground at Ultimate Mecha Strike III, Alya _had_ to jump in.

“Hey girl, I may not be good at fighting games, but you know I can whip your skinny white ass when it comes to DDR.”Alya flipped her hair and smirked predatorily. 

Marinette sniffed haughtily, but Alya could see her trying to hold back her grin.“You know you only won because I tripped right?And you wouldn’t do a rematch!” 

“Oh no no no girl,”Alya laughed and rolled her eyes, “I may love you to death, but I know how you get.And you take no prisoners when it comes to video games.I knew you would have absolutely no qualms about pushing me off and breaking my arm or something, just to get ahead.”Marinette crossed her arms and pouted, but didn’t refute Alya’s claims.

Adrien was laughing so hard that tears were coming out of his eyes.“I can just see—“ he wheezed, pressing his palms against his watering eyes, “You just like,” he mimed a pushing motion and put his head down on the table, shaking uncontrollably with mirth.Marinette began to giggle along too. 

Adrien sat up.“That image is just too cute for words,” Marinette grew as red as Ladybug’s suit and he sighed, chuckling a couple more times before taking a few deep breaths to calm down.“I had no idea you were so good at dancing games Alya.”Adrien turned to her, but he couldn’t keep the grin off his face. 

“Well,” Alya flipped her hair and smirked, “you know, I don’t want to brag,”Marinette snorted and Alya glared at her, “but I’m no slouch.I can hold my own.”

“That’s so cool,” Adrien bounced in his seat a little with excitement.“You know, I have one of those systems in my room, but I’ve never used it,” the grin on his face faded a little, but Alya hardly noticed, her eyes widening with excitement.

“You have a Dance Dance Revolution?”She exclaimed, leaning towards him over the table,“In your room?!”

“Yeah,” Adrien laughed, a little surprised at her enthusiasm.“I have a rock wall too.”

“ _A rock wall?!_ ”Marinette, Alya, and Nino (finally coming out of his sulk to interact with his friends) exclaimed, their jaws dropping.

Adrien began to fidget, looking a little uncomfortable.“Yeah, um, my dad likes to buy me stuff,” he laughed stiffly, “Its not that fun when you play on it alone though.”He laughed again as if it was a joke and that made Alya incredibly sad.“But you know,” he scratched the back of his neck, looking away, “Um, if you wanted to I mean, you could, uh, maybe…comeoversometimeandplayonitwithme?” He looked at Alya from underneath his eyelashes.Alya couldn’t help but think he was like a skittish deer or something cute like that.

Alya paused though as she tried to decipher what he said, but once she understood she let a bright grin grow on her face.“I would love to,” Adrien beamed in response, and Alya paused as she realized this was an opening. (And didn’t she feel guilty about that?She was taking advantage of Adrien’s vulnerability to get information on his father.She was a terrible person.)“You know, I’ve been meaning to do a piece on the staff of the rich and famous for the school blog.Do you think I could interview some people who work for your father while I’m there?”

Adrien looked surprised.“Oh, of course!”He turned to Marinette and Nino, the two smiling and sullenly tipping their chair back on two precarious legs respectively.“Do you guys want to come too?”He glanced at Alya, “Tomorrow after school?”Alya nodded and Adrien grinned before turning back to the other two. 

“I have to help my parents in the bakery,” Marinette smiled apologetically.“But you two have fun!”

“Busy,” Nino grumbled, not even looking at them as he crossed his arms and tipped back dangerously.Alya was really beginning to get tired of the DJ’s behavior.

“Oh,” Adrien sounded disappointed for a moment before pasting his face back into a smile. 

“Well it’ll just be you and me then,” Alya said, smiling understandingly and Adrien grinned back.  
“Its a date.”

CRASH!

Alya’s head whipped around to where Nino’s chair had just fallen back to the ground.The boy was breathing heavily and clenching his fists on the table.

“Dude, are you okay?”Adrien put his hand on his friends shoulder with a worried look.

“I’m fine,” Nino’s voice was gravelly and after a moment Adrien drew his hand away uncertainly, glancing over at his friend once again.

Alya did not know what was up with that child.

“So a date,” Alya quirked an eyebrow and Nino let out a sharp breath as Marinette giggled behind her hand.

“Oh,” Adrien’s eyes widened before glancing over at Marinette, Alya smirked.“I don’t mean it like that, oh geez Alya, I would never assume—“

“Calm down,” Alya laughed, tucking her hair behind her ear.“I was just busting your balls.”

“Oh,” Adrien shrunk in on himself a bit before Marinette giggled again and he perked up, smiling at her softly.She smiled back.

Just then the buzzer beeped, indicating the teens’ food was ready.

“I’ll just let you two lovebirds get that,” Alya laughed and the two turned as red as tomatoes.“Go on, scat!”They quickly scurried off toward the counter.“Oh god, the looks on their faces,” Alya laughed as she turned to Nino, but her mirth was cut short when she saw the death glare that was on his face.Alya’s expression morphed to mirror his.“Dude what is your problem today?”

Nino’s mouth dropped open and he looked incredulous.“What’s my problem? _What’s my problem?_ ** _Dude!What about you?!”_** He set his hands on the table and leaned toward her, Alya gaped at the intense look on his face.“What’s with the looks and the smiles and the video games and the teasing and th-th-the-the **date!** ”The boy sputtered out and Alya just stared at him.

“I legitimately have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Nino let out a noise that was half way between a groan and a frustrated growl.“Do you like him or something?”He asked seriously and just stared at her for a moment.Alya was incredibly confused.“Is it his hair or his eyes or his model smile?I mean, you don’t have to tell me about all his virtues because _I know_ , believe me I do,” Nino laughed bitterly. “I mean god knows that boy could use a nice girlfriend,” he shook his head and took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes.“But tell me,” he took his hands away from his eyes and looked into Alya’s shocked eyes, “what is it about him that makes you like him and not me?”

Alya was so incredibly taken aback.“Nino,” she leaned forward and put her hand on his arm, “What are you even talking about?”

Nino scoffed and glared at her, throwing his arms up, “Adrien!I’m talking about Adrien!”

Alya gaped, “I don’t have a crush on Adrien!What are you talking about?”

“What am I talking about?”Nino shook his head, “Wh-wh…You’re all over him!And its a date?!What was that about?”

Alya’s eyes narrowed.“Look Nino, I don’t know what’s going on with you, but I don’t have a crush on Adrien.And even if I did,” she looked him straight in the eyes, “it wouldn’t be any of your business.”

“Yeah,” Nino choked out an angry laugh.“And why’s that?”

Alya was silent.

“That’s right,” he spit out, “because you’re too scared.”

“Scared?”Alya scoffed.“As if!I just don’t like you like that.”She looked away angrily, but Nino wouldn’t let her. 

“Yeah.Scared.”Nino leaned into her personal space and Alya leaned back with him.“Of being vulnerable or getting hurt or something stupid like that,” he groaned in frustration and leaned back in his seat, covering his face with his hands.“I don’t know why you think I would do that,” he peeked through his fingers.“I would never hurt you.”

“Nino, I—“ Alya began, feeling numb, but Nino cut her off.

“No,” he glared.“You don’t get to say anything…not now.”

Alya’s mouth snapped shut.

“Hey guys, we got the food!” Marinette said cheerfully but hesitantly, her and Adrien sensing the tension that hung over the table.

“You know what?”Nino stood up, suddenly angry again.“I’m actually not hungry anymore.”He stalked out the door.

What the actual fuck, Alya’s mind screamed.

“But he already bought soup,” Marinette said, tilting her head in confusion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Nino, he's confused. He's a little OOC in this chapter sorry, but it'll get better just wait.


	7. Hello World, I'm Your Wild Girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It wasn’t that…Ugh! It wasn’t that she didn’t like Nino. Okay, she should get that straight. She liked Nino, probably more than she should. But she just couldn’t…be with him. First of all, she was busy with the blog. Second, who wanted a boy hanging around anyway? They just got in the way. There were a bunch of other reasons that Alya didn’t want to name, but it basically chalked up to: she didn’t want a boyfriend, boys couldn’t be trusted, she was busy, she didn’t want to lose focus, Nino probably didn’t like her anyway, and she was afraid she would get hurt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry its been so long! I got sick and had a little writer's block :'(  
> *sweats profusely*  
> But here's the good news! I actually outlined the rest of the story so I have a better idea of what I'm doing. (The outline is over 8 pages, oh god.)  
> On a side note:  
> please be kind to Nino (my smol turtle son), he's a confused teenage boy who's messing up his own love life. Yes, it was a dick move to yell at Alya like that, but he'll learn.  
> Also, keep in mind he's an insecure 16 year old boy, they do dumb things. He was also comparing himself to Adrien (an actual model) and feeling a little insecure. So I'm not excusing his actions, but he was just lashing out a bit.  
> Plus, Alya's not completely in the right either so keep that in mind for later chapters.  
> Okay, rant over.

Alya was pissed off for the rest of the day in class (which Nino never returned to), she was pissed off when she got home, and she was pissed off that morning when she was going to school.But as soon as she caught sight of Nino’s puffy, red eyes, and dark circles, Alya felt far more tired than angry.

Nino’s eyes widened as soon as he saw her and his mouth opened slightly as if he was going to say something.But when Alya raised her eyebrows as a sign to continue Nino’s mouth snapped closed and he buried his head in his hands.Adrien looked over at her, biting his lip as he nudged Nino, saying something to him that seemed to give the other boy courage.He stood up out of his seat abruptly.

“I need to Alya to talk!” He yelled then winced as everyone in the classroom turned to look at him.Despite the fact she was upset with him, Alya felt a hint of a smile forming on her face.Nino was such a dork. 

“I mean,” he continued in a quieter voice, hunching his shoulders a bit and avoiding her eyes.“Would it be okay if we talked?I mean,” he scratched his nose and messed with his glasses and said all in one breath, “I would understand if you didn’t want to talk to me.I’m a huge asshole, like a total dickwad.But I mean, I would really appreciate it if you would just—“

“Breathe Nino,” Alya said, stepping closer to his desk.

“Right,” Nino took a deep breath.“I would really appreciate it if we could talk,” he looked around at their classmates who were not so subtly eavesdropping.“In private.”

Alya sighed and set her stuff down at her desk.“Alright.”

“Great,” Nino, though his voice was excited, still looked apprehensive.Probably because he thought she was going to yell at him, Alya thought to herself.And depending on what he had to say, she still might.

They just stood there for a moment.“Uh,” Alya tucked her hair behind her ear, “the journalism class is empty right now.We could go there.”

“Yes,” Nino exclaimed, a little too loud.“That would be rockin’!Let’s do that!” 

“Okay,” Alya raised her hands and huffed out a tiny laugh (she was still mad).“Its right down the hall.”

Their walk there was quiet and undeniably awkward.But Alya supposed that could be expected after what had happened yesterday.As soon as they got into the room Nino turned and rubbed his face with his hands.

“First of all, I am so sorry.”He looked up at her and Alya could see how upset he was in his eyes.“Actually, last of all I’m sorry too.First, middle, and last sorry.”

Alya rolled her eyes.“That doesn’t even make sense.”

“Well, its just a lot of sorry,” Nino sat down in one of the spinning computer chairs and spun a few times before stopping and sighing.“Look,” he took off his hat and bunched it up in his hands, “I know I’m a bit of a douchebag all of the time.But yesterday I was out of line.”He sighed again.

“Go on,” Alya said, sitting down in the chair across from him and waving her hand. 

Nine’s lips quirked up at the edges and he shook his head.“I should never have yelled at you, and never have gotten jealous for no reason.I know that you weren’t trying to date Adrien, I shouldn’t have just assumed.”Alya was about interject but he continued, scrubbing at his hair.“No, that’s not what I meant to say.I shouldn’t have even gotten jealous in the first place.If you liked Adrien its absolutely none of my business.I don’t own you, we’re not in a relationship.”He glanced over at her from the corner of his eye.“Not that even if, we were in…you know…any kind of relationship I would own you or anything.I’m totally not about that.”

Alya laughed and held up a hand.“I get it, you’re not a caveman, even though you acted like one yesterday.Continue the apology.”

Nino’s cheeks colored, but he smiled a little bit.“Its just…” he groaned.“You don’t like me,” he looked straight at Alya and she pretended that was the truth.“I should…no,” he shook his head and put his hat back on.“I _need_ to respect that.Because I’ve never wanted to be the type of guy who whined over being stuck in the friend zone.I hate those losers,” he laughed a little bit, looking away.“I think that I’m just confused.Its just,” he sighed. “when we were stuck in the zoo together…”

Alya tensed.

“When we were stuck together it just seemed so much like you _liked_ me,” he looked over at her, his eyebrows furrowed.“I thought we both had the hots for each other you know,” he laughed again, looking down.“But feelings change obviously, so I shouldn’t hold you to something you never even explicitly stated.”Nino crossed his arms and curled into himself.“That’s all I have to say I guess.”

That wasn’t it at all.

It wasn’t that…Ugh!It wasn’t that she didn’t like Nino.Okay, she should get that straight.She liked Nino, probably more than she should.But she just couldn’t…be with him.First of all, she was busy with the blog.Second, who wanted a boy hanging around anyway?They just got in the way.There were a bunch of other reasons that Alya didn’t want to name, but it basically chalked up to: she didn’t want a boyfriend, boys couldn’t be trusted, she was busy, she didn’t want to lose focus, Nino probably didn’t like her anyway, and she was afraid she would get hurt.

Wait.

What?

She wasn’t afraid?!Alya scoffed to herself, Nino looked at her strangely, afraid?Seriously?No way!

Alya realized she’d been silent for too long and should answer.

“I’m sorry too.” She twiddled her thumbs.

“You don’t have to be—“ Nino interrupted, sitting up, but Alya held up a hand and continued.

“I’m not sorry for yesterday, because that was you.” Nino hunched his shoulders and Alya sighed.“So I’m not sorry for that, but I am sorry for the way I’ve treated you in the past.You’re right about the zoo.I was giving you…” she looked away and tucked her hair behind her ear, “certain signals.And its not like those signals were wrong, or what you thought was wrong, its just that…” Alya sighed and rubbed her arms.“I’m not sure what I feel, but I know that I don’t want a boyfriend right now.”She looked straight at Nino who was sitting up straight with a confused look on his face.“So regardless of what I may or may not feel, I’m not going to be with you.So you might as well move on to someone else.”

Nino scoffed.“I’m not going to just—“The bell rang while he was speaking and Alya interrupted him, standing up.

“Its time for class,” she said, already walking out the door, “and I don’t want to be late.”

 

***

 

Alya groaned as she lost her 7th consecutive game of Ultimate Mecha Strike III.You would think that she’d be used to losing by know, but apparently not.She looked over at Adrien and laughed as she noticed he was doing his cute little happy dance. 

Even if she was losing, she was glad she came.Adrien had been so excited for today, Alya thought and her smile dropped a little.He probably didn’t get to have friends over very often, if at all.

That must have been why he had been so excited for her to come over.

“Ready to go?” Adrien had asked as soon as the bell rang, wiggling in his seat as he’d hurriedly to packed up his things.

“Yeah,” Alya had laughed.“I just need to get my stuff from my locker.”

Adrien had agreed impatiently, but he’d been practically vibrating with excitement as he waited for her to be finished.When she was, he nearly yanked her arm out of her socket as he pulled her to his car.Though, he’d apologized as soon as he realized how hard he’d been pulling.

Speaking of his car, when Alya had asked for a ride, she hadn’t realized she’d been asking for a ride in a luxury vehicle.Adrien’s limo had a minibar, a sunroof, leather seats that faced each other, and even a tacky disco ball.Alya’d poked it while he went on and on about all the games he had.

Though she appreciated his enthusiasm, Alya felt a little uncomfortable letting lose in from of both his driver and his personal assistant (who was in the front seat.)He’d introduced her as Nathalie, and she’d given Alya the strangest look.Alya had thought for a second that maybe she was the one who…

No, couldn’t be her.She was too loyal to Gabriel.

Alya and Adrien had agreed that she would interview the staff first before they played video games. 

And the interviews had been…interesting.Almost all of them had been confused about why she was interviewing them, some of them were frightened of her, and almost none of them had exhibited any strange behavior when confronted with her.It was so frustrating!She had almost _no_ suspects! 

And even the suspects she _did_ have were only suspects because “they had shifty eyes” or “wouldn’t answer her questions.The only one who’d even seemed to recognize her was Nathalie.

Nathalie?

Could it be her? Gabriel’s right-hand woman.That would be such a plot twist.

No!Alya scolded herself.This was not a story!She needed to stop treating everything like she was in a book.This was real life, and she couldn’t think in terms of what tropes would qualify people as suspects.That was just bad journalism.That was just bad reasoning in general.

“15!” Adrien’s yelling jolted Alya out of her thoughts and she realized that he’d won once again.

“Okay,” Alya said, setting the controller down and standing up.“That’s enough losing for me, I think its time for you to get your ass kicked.”She turned to Adrien with a smirk and she rubbed her hands together.“Its time for some Dance Dance Revolution.”

Adrien gulped.

 

***

 

Left, right, center, center, back and front, left, left.

Alya was focused, and it paid off as the jingle announced she had won once again.

“Whoop whoop!”She whipped her ponytail around and threw her hands up in the air, bowing dramatically at the groaning Adrien.“I think you just got your ass handed to you my good sir.”

“Yeah,” Adrien laughed, rolling his eyes, “for the tenth time in a row!”He turned off the machine and stepped down from the platform.“Why don’t we take a break, are you hungry?”He pulled a few bags of chips from the mini fridge next to his desk.

“Doritos please,” Alya answered and he tossed her a bag. “Thanks,” came her answer, garbled from the food that had already been stuffed in her mouth.She was hungry, okay?

Adrien smiled back, cheat dust already coloring the outside of his mouth.

They ate in silence for a few moments before Adrien got them both sodas.As he sat back down, Alya spoke.

“So you like American snacks, huh?” 

He nodded.His brows furrowed as he stared at the ground before he eventually looked up, a frown on his face.

“Alya,” he said her name slowly, as if he was still figuring out what he wanted to say next.

“Yes,” she prompted, scooting closer to him on the couch they were sitting on.

“Um…” he sighed, running a hand through his hair.“Why did you suddenly start hanging out with me?You’ve never shown any interest before so um…”Alya’s eyebrows furrowed, but he continued before she could speak.“What I really mean is,” he looked up and made eye contact and Alya couldn’t look away, “do you want something from me?”

“What no!” Alya shook her head violently, ignoring the part of her that whispered about how she did want something from him.“Why would you think that?”

Adrien let out a breathy laugh and rubbed his neck awkwardly, turning away.“People usually do I guess.”His voice was quiet, but it struck Alya right in the heart.She realized that this was his life.Homeschooled until he was 15, his only friend was Chloe, people always trying to take advantage of his fame or his money.Alya suddenly wanted to punch anyone who’d taken advantage of him in the face.

“No Adrien, listen.”Alya scooted even closer and put her hands on his shoulders, looking him straight in the eye.“I started hanging out with you more this last week because I realized that I hadn’t made much of an effort before.That I’d let Chloe’s abrasiveness deter me from trying to be friends with you.And you deserve friends Adrien Agreste, no matter what anyone else has let you believe.”

Adrien’s eyes were wide, but Alya continued on.“Do you understand me?”She moved his face closer to hers and narrowed her eyes, but a smile just grew on his face.

“Oh, you’ll never get rid of me now.”

Alya smiled and let him go, patting his arms before she drew them back into her lap.

“I don’t want to.”

Though she may have rethought that statement when an hour after she’d gotten home he’d already texted her 50 different bad memes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from Cherry Bomb by the Runaways
> 
> Adrien baby, you deserve so much.


	8. they call me the seeker, I been searchin low and high

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Speaking of stench,” Chloe continued. “Why were you in the bathroom so long Marinette Dupain-Cheng?” Chloe spat out her full name as if it was an insult.   
> Marinette’s eyes widened. “I-I got a call from my mom, it was an e-emergency,” Marinette stuttered out and Alya braced herself, why did Marinette have to be such a bad liar?  
> Chloe leaned across the desk, getting right in Marinette’s face.   
> “You’re lying,” her eyes narrowed and her over-glossed lips curled up in a malicious smirk. “Tell me what you were really doing.” Her smile widened. “Were you crying?”  
> Marinette scoffed, but Chloe continued. “You were, weren’t you. You were crying because no one likes you. Especially not Adrien,” Marinette’s eyes widened and Chloe voice grew stronger and louder as she realized her jabs were hitting their mark. Alya was so glad in that moment that Adrien had gone outside for break. But that didn’t mean that the rest of the class wasn’t watching in horrified fascination as Chloe ripped apart another person. Alya told herself once again to calm down. Blowing up at Chloe could never end well, it only ever ended in frustration, suspension, and akumatization.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Title from The Seeker, by The Who

Alya had always thought of herself as observant, and she was.Any good journalist had to be.And she wasn’t oblivious, at least she liked to think so. 

So when she started hearing screams coming from outside in the middle of physics and Marinette, Adrien, and Nino all stood to attention and had to leave class for some reason, Alya tried not to read much into it.She’d learned the hard way that people, especially friends, didn’t really like it when you figured things out that they were trying to keep a secret.Plus, Alya was best friends with Marinette, pretty close to Nino, and getting closer to Adrien, so if they really had secrets, they’d probably tell her when she was ready.

Alya tapped her stylus on the edge of her tablet and tried not to think about where they were.And when Marinette came back from her hour-long bathroom break,Adrien came back from his surprise photoshoot, and Nino from his family emergency all at the same time, all three looking tired and disheveled, Alya _tried_ to put it out of her mind.She really did!

But it was difficult, because her mind kept whispering that they were up to something together.Three people gone during an akuma attack, why could that be?

Ugh, she needed to stop, Alya shook her head and ignored the weird look Marinette gave her.Their business was their business and unless they wanted to make it her business too, and that was the end of that.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, the bell rang for break and Alya sighed with relief, laying her head down on the table.She was too keyed up to pay attention to whatever the teacher had been saying. 

“Marinette,” she said slowly, drawing it out and looking up at her friend through her eyelashes and Marinette sighed, though she couldn’t hide the fond smile on her face. 

“I’ll send you a picture of my notes after school,” she rolled her eyes as Alya flung herself at the smaller girl, kissing her wetly on the cheek.

“You are god’s gift to mankind, an angel!The most beautiful, wonderful human being that has ever graced the planet!You kind-hearted child of—“ Alya cried dramatically, hugging her friend tightly.

“Okay, okay,” Mari laughed, extracting herself from Alya’s arms, “I can’t breathe!”

“Well, is’t this a charming scene?”The girls looked up, a pool of dread forming in Alya’s stomach as the nasally voice of Paris’s resident pampered princess cam from in front of them.“Absolutely lovely,” sarcasm dripped from her words and she crossed her arms, standing at the front of her desk.“Its beautiful when losers stick together, isn’t it Sabrina?”

The mousy girl bounced up and down with the enthusiasm of her nodding, her face attempting to match Chloe’s in haughtiness and snobbery but coming across as more of an eager puppy desperate to please her master. “Yeah, it is Chloe!” She squeaked.

Marinette sighed and rolled her eyes, sitting back in her seat and crossing her arms.“Go away Chloe, we didn’t do anything to you.” 

Alya wished she could be as coolheaded as Marinette when it came to Chloe.The girl had even said that she’d begun to feel _sympathetic_ toward the heiress.That this was the only way she knew how to interact with people.But Alya didn’t think that excused her awful behavior.Chloe single-handedly caused at least 50% of the akuma’s in Paris!

“Yeah well you don’t have to _do_ anything except sit there and clog up the air with your stench, do you Trashinette?”Chloe’s tone dripped with saccharine sweet condescension and Alya felt anger gnawing at her stomach, but she tried to calm down.If Marinette could be calm, so could Alya.

“Speaking of stench,” Chloe continued.“Why were you in the bathroom so long Marinette Dupain-Cheng?”Chloe spat out her full name as if it was an insult. 

Marinette’s eyes widened.“I-I got a call from my mom, it was an e-emergency,” Marinette stuttered out and Alya braced herself, why did Marinette have to be such a bad liar?

Chloe leaned across the desk, getting right in Marinette’s face. 

“You’re lying,”her eyes narrowed and her over-glossed lips curled up in a malicious smirk.“Tell me what you were really doing.”Her smile widened.“Were you crying?”

Marinette scoffed, but Chloe continued.“You were, weren’t you.You were crying because no one likes you.Especially not _Adrien_ ,”Marinette’s eyes widened and Chloe voice grew stronger and louder as she realized her jabs were hitting their mark.Alya was so glad in that moment that Adrien had gone outside for break.But that didn’t mean that the rest of the class wasn’t watching in horrified fascination as Chloe ripped apart another person.Alya told herself once again to calm down.Blowing up at Chloe could never end well, it only ever ended in frustration, suspension, and akumatization. 

The girl had too much power for anyone to win in a fight against her.But regardless of Alya’s inner turmoil, Chloe kept on. 

“After all, why would perfect Adrikins ever notice a pathetic bug like you?”She laughed meanly and Marinette tried not to show emotion but Alya could tell that it was hurting her.After all, these things were what she herself thought in her darkest times.Alya clenched her teeth.“You know, he’s noticed your creepy obsession,” Chloe laughed.“Yeah, we laugh about it all the time.Poor frumpy Marinette who wants something she _can’t_ have and _never_ will have.”

“Shut up!”Alya’d had enough.She stood up out of her seat abruptly, jolting the desk and bumping Chloe.“No one except you is amused!Why do you even say these things?Does it make you feel good about yourself?”Alya leaned toward the girl and Chloe leaned back, her eyes widening.Alya pointed her finger in Chloe’s face and the girl almost went cross-eyed looking at it.“ _You_ are the one that’s pathetic! _You_ are the one who no one likes.And _you_ are the one who wants Adrien, who you will _never_ have!”Her last words were punctuated with her jabbing her finger closer and closer to Chloe’s nose.

Chloe’s eyes widened and a sheen of tears formed over them. 

“Whatever,” she spat out venomously.“As if I care about the opinion of a loser like you.Come on Sabrina!”She stormed out of the classroom, swinging her designer purse over her shoulder and snapping her fingers, Sabrina scurrying after her, glaring at Alya.

As soon as they left all of the anger ebbed out of Alya and she just felt cold.There was complete silence in the classroom, everyone staring at Alya as she stood there clenching her fists.Finally, she broke the stillness by letting her breath out in a whoosh, collapsing into her chair and burying her head in her hands.

“Why did I do that?”She groaned and Marinette put a hand on her back hesitantly and rubbed gently.Alya lifted her head a little, looking at Marinette with one eye.“I was just so angry.But…”She sat up, taking off her glasses and rubbing at her eyes.“Ugh!Why did I blow up at her?”The class slowly went back to normal, the other students murmuring and starting their conversations back up.

“You were defending me,” Marinette said softly, playing with the ends of Alya’s ombre hair.“You always stand up for me because you’re a good friend.”

“I mean,” Alya sighed and put her glasses back on, biting her lip,“I didn’t have to be so cruel.”

Marinette smiled sadly.“Well,” she tucked her hair behind her ear and flipped her pigtail over her shoulder, turning fully toward her friend, “It _was_ a little harsh.But…” she rubbed Alya’s shoulders a little harder and smiled at her friend.“But no one deserves a little cruelty more than Chloe.Maybe she’ll learn that being mean isn’t the way to make friends.”

“Yeah,” Alya picked at her nails, “maybe.”

 

***

 

Chloe didn’t come back to school that day.Marinette kept looking at her worriedly (Adrien and Nino did as well as soon as Marinette had told them what happened) but Alya tried to ignore them.She was fine.She was just worried about Chloe. 

Not really about her well-being, even though that sounded kind of callous.(But even though she felt bad about snapping, she still didn’t think Chloe deserved her sympathy.)She was more worried about how upset Chloe had looked as she’d stormed out of the classroom.That kind of hatred was what caused people to become akumas.

But Alya tried to push her anxiety out of her mind.She had no proof that Chloe would be akumatized.(Who even knew if people could be akumatized twice?)And even if she get possessed and came after her, Alya would get some good video for her blog.

Her fears appeased, Alya went home resolving not to think about it. 

But her calm was shattered as soon as she walked through the door to a screaming match between three of her sisters. 

“Alya, Alya, Alya!” 

“Alright,” she sighed, “who wants to watch a movie?”

“Me!”

“Me!”

“Me!”

After getting her sisters to calm down, Alya walked to her room and started up her computer, scrolling through her notifications from the Ladyblog.There was nothing really interesting some cute fan art, some fan fiction (both well-written and poor), some pictures of the heroes as they patrolled, another detailed theory about Ladybug’s identity from user modelchatnoir16 on the message boards (but that wasn’t unusual, every other day they posted some post or other about their devotion to Ladybug), and some other things.Alya messed around with the formatting a bit, changing the cover photo to one of Jade Turtle, Ladybug, and Chat Noir silhouetted against the night sky. 

After a while, Alya turned away from her computer, bored and stared at the wall, thinking. 

She hadn’t figured out much from her visit to Adrien’s unfortunately, but she looked back over the notes she had.

The housekeeper with the shifty eyes had been on Gabriel’s staff for 9 years, so shecould have had access to some of the information in the theory, but Alya didn’t have any actual evidence of that fact.

The cook who’d seemed scared to talk to her had only been on staff for a little over 4 years and his attitude could be attributed to a nervous personality.

Alya sighed and took off her glasses, rubbing her hands all over her face.

The only other suspicious one had been Gabriel’s personal assistant Nathalie.She’d been on staff for 15 years and _would_ have had sufficient access to all of the information in the theory. 

But _no_ …it couldn’t be Nathalie.She was too close to Gabriel, and something about her gave Alya a weird feeling, like her insides were all cold.Adrien had been practically raised by that woman? 

Poor boy.

Alya thought about it as she got started on her homework.She thought about it as she ate the burnt dinner made by her father (he’d gotten a story idea in the middle of cooking and ran off, leaving Alya and her sisters to figure out what was causing the smoke alarm to go off).She thought about it as she sat at her desk writing articles for the paper and listening to music.And she was thinking about it as she heard a knock on her window.

“What the…”Alya whispered to herself as she turned and crept toward her window.A serial killer probably wouldn’t have knocked right?Well, you never knew, Alya thought, so she grabbed her laptop (maybe she could bash a criminal over the head with it?) and opened the curtains, ready to either call 112 or bash a murderer’s head in.

But it was just Jade Turtle’s goofy face staring at her from where he was hovering outside her window. 

Alya’s let out a harsh breath of relief, but irritation soon formed in the place of her fear.

She unlocked and opened the window.

“What are you doing here Michelangelo?” She asked, leaning out her window and smirking at him.

“I’ve always thought that I was more of a Leonardo, myself,” he tried to lean on the ledge and missed, almost toppling off his shell before he righted himself.

Alya laughed as he scratched his nose awkwardly.

“Yeah,” she coughed, trying to stop her chuckles, “definitely Michelangelo.”

Jade pouted, but he couldn’t keep his lips from turning up at the corners. 

“So…um,” he pushed his hood off his head, “can I come in?”

Alya’s cheeks warmed and she laughed nervously.“Oh, yeah,” she backed up a few steps, tugging on the hem of her shirt.“Sure.”

Jade hopped onto the ledge and swung around into the room, pulling his shell back onto his back as he looked around.He was a bit awkward, but that was probably due to his being in some random girl’s room late at night.“Cool room,” he said, messing with the armor on his shoulders.

Alya looked around at her dark purple walls covered with superhero posters, her scuffed wood floor scattered with discarded clothes, and her unmade bed with its wrinkled white sheets.“Whatever you say,” she tucked her hair behind her ear.“So…” she turned toward hum and crossed her arms, shifting her weight to one hip, “what exactly are you doing here?”

“Oh,” Jade Turtle’s eyes widened as if he just realized how strange this was, “um,” he chuckled a little, “that’s actually a funny story.”

“Go on,” Alya waved her hand for him to continue.

“Right…Cool, um.Well, I heard that you got in a pretty bad fight with someone today and my source was a little worried they’d be akumatized and come after you.So I thought I’d make a little visit to you Lois Lane.”

“Excuse you!I am _not_ Lois Lane!”Alya scoffed, flipped her hair over her shoulder and sitting down on her bed.“If I’m anyone, I’m superman,” she sniffed.

“What’s wrong with Lois Lane?” Jade laughed, then his chest puffed out.“And if anyone here is superman, I think its me.”He flexed a bit and Alya rolled her eyes.

“As if,” Alya narrowed her eyes and smirked.“You’re much more like Robin.”

He gasped as he sat in her desk chair, spinning a couple times.“How dare you?Robins eat turtles!”

“Uhhh,” Alya raised her eyebrows, “I’m pretty sure robins do _not_ eat turtles.I’m pretty sure they eat like berries or something.Besides, Robin is a _human_ , not an actual bird.”

Jade shook his head sadly.“Still.”

“Whatever,” Alya laughed as she rolled her eyes, but started as she caught movement out her window.She tensed.

“What, what is it?”Jade stood up, stepping toward the window, but relaxed as soon as he actually looked out.“Hey!” He laughed.“It looks like I’m not the only one who’s checking on you.Yo, what’s up G?”

“I’m just fine,” Chat Noir answered as he climbed through the window and Alya’s mouth fell open.“How about you broski?”

“Man we’re slammin’!”They hugged.But that bro one where they clasp hands and like half hug.The “manly hug,” Alya thought to herself.

“Good, good.” 

They chatted a little bit, but Alya had trouble focusing due to the fact that there were _two actual real-life superheroes_ in her room!

Okay, okay, she thought to herself, calm down Alya, they’re just people.But no matter how cool and unfazed she tried to appear, she was a fangirl at heart.

_Superheroes!_

**Superheroes!**

Alya took a deep breath, trying to calm herself before she spoke.“So, Chat Noir,” she began, “what are you doing here?”

The superheroes (superheroes!) stopped talking and turned toward her, Chat Noir with a huge grin and Jade with a slightly smaller smile.

“Well,” he started, stepping toward her and leaping onto her bed, bouncing a few times behind her before folding himself in the air and dropping down to sit cross-legged, his tail curled neatly in his lap.“A little bird told me—“

“That I blew up at Chloe and she might come after me as an akuma,” Alya interrupted, turning towards him on her bed.“I get it, you guys must have the same source or something.”

Both Jade and Chat laughed nervously, fidgeting as they nodded. “Yeeaaahh,” Chat Noir bit his lip before hopping up and running toward the window.“It looks like My Lady has had the same idea as us!Come inside Lady!”

Alya’s breath caught in her throat, Ladybug!She squealed internally.Maybe they would let her do an interview.Or would that be too awkward to ask?Anyway…

Ladybug looked a little awkward as she came through the window, but she didn’t really look around the room like the boys did, she zeroed in on Alya and walked toward her, her ribbons flipping behind her. 

“Alya, have you seen any signs of an akuma?”She asked seriously, standing over Alya.

“Oh ho ho,” Chat sidled up to her and slung his arm over Ladybug’s shoulder, earning a glare as the super heroine flicked his arm off.“My Lady is all business this evening, loosen up a bit!”

Ladybug glanced at him out of the corner of her eye as she crossed her arms.“I’m not going to loosen up while there might be an akuma on the loose.”

Finally, Alya found her voice.“Um, I didn’t see anything.And there’s nothing on the Ladybug tag about an akuma attack.”

“Ladybug tag?”Her eyebrows furrowed.

“Um, yeah,” Alya pulled Twitter up on her phone.“The Ladybug hashtag, fast reporting on all things Ladybug?” 

“Huh,” Ladybug took the phone out of Alya’s hand and scrolled down a bit.“This could be useful.” She looked up at Alya, a smile on her face.“Thanks Alya,” she said brightly and Alya was struck with such a feeling of familiarity.She tried to push it away, but it persisted, even as the superheroes decided they were just going to hang out in her room(!) in case an akuma _did_ show up.The feeling persisted as Chat Noir made bad puns and Ladybug shoved him and as Jade Turtle asked for her to let him play her some music.

It wasn’t that she knew people who acted exactly like them, or that she had similar dynamics with anyone specific,but it was just like…she felt like she’d hung out with these people before.It was so easy…comfortable.Like she’d known them for years rather than less than an hour.

Ladybug and Chat Noir were playing some video game on her computer when Alya received a text on her phone. Oh, oops, she thought.There were a lot of new notifications.Lots from Adrien and Marinette from a few hours ago, and even one from Nino that came right after school.

Nino: Call me if you need to talk.

Alya smiled a little, but scrolled past the old texts to see the one she’d just gotten.Alya’s eyebrows furrowed.Huh, it was from an unlisted number.That was strange, but she opened it anyway.

Unknown: Meet me at Le Cafe Jacquemart-Andre at 3PM tomorrow.I have more information on Gabriel Agreste.I will wait for 15 minutes.If you do not show up, you won’t hear from me again.

Something must have shown on Alya’s face because when she looked up, Jade Turtle was right in from of her, his face worried.

“Are you okay?What happened?”He asked and all of the sudden Alya had three worried superheroes looking at her.She felt like she was under a microscope.

“Chill out guys,” she laughed, waving her hand.“Its nothing!”But she must not have been convincing because they all looked even more worried.

Jade scooted a little closer to her.

“You can tell us what happened,” he said, his eyebrows drawn together and his tone serious.

“I—“ she started.How to explain this…

“Please tell us the truth Alya,” Ladybug said turning fully towards the journalist.

“Yeah, we’ll be able to tell if you’re _kitten,_ ” Chat Noir said with a quirk of his brow.Ladybug hit him in the shoulder.

“Calm down,” Alya said, clearing her throat and fidgeting in her seat.“You would think someone had died.Its just…”she paused, taking a deep breath.“Its a long story, and not that big of a deal,” she looked pointedly at each of them, but continued.“A little while ago, I received an email from an anonymous source…”

 

***

 

The three superheroes just sat there quietly after she told them what they knew.

“So I’m investigating to see if this possible suspect could be plausible.”

“Who is the suspect?”Jade asked but Alya shook her head before he’d finished speaking.

“I don’t want to tell you until I have more proof.”

There was silence for a moment.

“So you’re going to meet this person?”Chat Noir asked, seriously for once.

Alya nodded.“I might as well, I have to see this lead through to the end.”

“You don’t have to,” Jade Turtle said quietly.“You probably shouldn’t actually, you’re just a civilian.”

Alya’s eyes narrowed.“I’m not _just_ a civilian.I can handle myself.”

Ladybug sighed.“That was never in question Alya.Its just that we want you to be safe.And going to a meeting with someone you don’t even know is not exactly safe.”She bit on her thumbnail over the suit.“Maybe one of us should go with you—-“

“Me!”Chat Noir raised his hand quickly.“I’ll go!”

Jade Turtle laughed.“Its not school, chill out bro.”

“No,” Ladybug shook her head, ignoring her teammates.“I’ll go, I can watch from the shadows.”

“No, actually,”Alya said, lifting up a hand and waving it.“No one’s going.I’m fine on my own.You guys don’t need to make such a big deal out of something that’s probably nothing.”

“But what if its something,” Ladybug persisted.

“Then I can take care of myself.I don’t need super-bodyguards.” Alya rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

Ladybug huffed.“I know but—“

“My Lady, if Alya says she can take care of it herself, then she can.”Chat Noir said, but he whispered something to Ladybug that Alya couldn’t hear. 

“Well, its getting late,” Jade Turtle stood up and stretched.“I don’t think any akuma’s going to show up after,” he looked at the clock, “2AM.Chloe’s probably asleep.”

“Yeah, he’s right,” Chat Noir stood up as well and put his hands on his hips.“Plus, I have a certain princess I need to be visiting.”His smile was soft and faraway as he talked and Alya’s eyebrows furrowed.Hadn’t he just said it was late?

But Ladybug seemed to know what he was talking about.Well, either that or she was worried about something else, because she said a quick goodbye and booked it out of there on her yoyo.Chat Noir following close behind.

“Well,” Jade scratched his nose and smiled a little at her.“I guess I’ll see you soon Lois Lane,” he said as he hopped out the window.

Alya rolled her eyes.“I am not Lois Lane,” she called after him, but he was already speeding away.Alya drew herself back inside, closing the window and leaning back against it.

How was this her life?


	9. And I do not give up, damn if you don’t believe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Her mother had always taught her that it was better to be early than late, so that’s why Alya sat in the corner of Le Cafe Jacquemart-Andre at 2:45 pm. She was not missing that tip, the story was getting too good for her to miss.   
> The cafe was inside of a fancy museum and as she glanced at the menu, Alya realized that it as a little outside of her price range. So she just ordered a glass of water and settled in to wait.  
> Her phone buzzed and Alya groaned. It was probably—  
> Yep, another garlic bread meme from model boy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a lot of trouble with this chapter. Sorry if it seems rushed or anything, I just needed to get it out and move on.  
> Anyway...um...I may have made some fan art for my own story...check it out >>>>>> http://peachgreenteelemonade.tumblr.com/post/142803390237

Alya was getting really sick of her friends acting super weird for no reason. 

“What is it?” She hissed as Mari looked over at her for what had to be the _hundredth_ time that day.“Why do you keep looking at me?”

“I-I’m not!”Marinette whispered back, her face turning red as a tomato.

Alya huffed and pulled out a piece of paper, scribbling on it quickly and shoving it over to her friend’s side of the table.

_‘WHAT’S WRONG?!!’_ she wrote hurriedly.

Mari’s eyes widened and she glanced at the teacher before she wrote back in pink gel pen.

_‘Nothing…I don’t know what you’re talking about.’_

Alya scoffed quietly and rolled her eyes, earning a glare from Marinette as she pointedly looked up to where Mlle. Bustier was giving a lecture on the symbolism in The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

_‘Girl, don’t play dumb.I’m not stupid.You keep looking over at me with that weird look on your face!’_ Alya wrote, her scribbly black pen contrasting to Marinette’s round script.Ugh, she even dotted her eyes with hearts.That girl was too cutesy for her own good, Alya thought,

_‘I wasn’t!’_ Mari wrote back, glaring at Alya.

_‘Whatever, you can tell me what you need to later.But chill it with the evil eye.’_ Alya wrote back, rolling her eyes.

“Marinette, Alya, do you have something you need to share with the class?”Mlle. Bustier’s sweet tone rang through the class and the girls froze.

“No, Mlle.” Marinette mumbled, blushing bright pink.

“Well please stop passing notes and glaring at each other, you can talk after class,” She said, pursing her lips, then she turned her glare at the boys sitting in front of her.“And you two,” they froze as well, “Don’t think I haven’t noticed you two staring at Alya as well.Please at least _try_ to pay attention.”

Both boys look contrite as they mumbled, “Yes, Mlle.”

Alya sighed.What was up with her friends today?

 

***

 

Her mother had always taught her that it was better to be early than late, so that’s why Alya sat in the corner of Le Cafe Jacquemart-Andre at 2:45 pm.She was not missing that tip, the story was getting too good for her to miss. 

The cafe was inside of a museum and as she glanced at the menu, Alya realized that it as a little outside of her price range.So she just ordered a glass of water and settled in to wait.

Her phone buzzed and Alya groaned.It was probably—

Yep, another garlic bread meme from model boy. 

Alya: pls stop

Adrien: You know you love it.

Alya: sure…thats what u think

Alya: i am so done with you and your puns and your memes ugh

Adrien: (̂ ˃̥̥̥ ˑ̫ ˂̥̥̥ )̂

Alya: oh stop

Adrien: I feel so rejected.

Adrien: *sobs*

Adrien: I guess I’ll just cry into my pillow now *slinks off*

Alya: pls i beg u

Adrien: ｡ﾟ･（>﹏<）･ﾟ｡

Alya: ok

Alya: calm down… i dont hate the puns that much

Alya: but the memes i could do w/out

Adrien: You…don’t…like…memes?

Adrien: You want me to…stop…sending…memes?

Adrien: But I’m the memelord!

Adrien: <garlicbread.jpg>

Alya: im not opening that

Adrien: *pouts* why?

Alya: its a meme i know it

Adrien:But its a good one!

Alya: ugh, no 

Alya: pls no more

Adrien:Okay, okay.

Adrien: Do you want to hear a bad cat joke?

Alya: no

Adrien: Its okay, I was just kitten anyway (o>艸<)

Alya: u r the devil

Adrien: You don’t mean that ₍ ̂ˑ̫̈̄ ̂₎

Alya: i really do

Alya: the literal devil

Adrien: ₍˄·͈༝·͈˄₍˄·͈༝·͈˄( ͒ ु•·̫• ू ͒)˄·͈༝·͈˄₎˄·͈༝·͈˄₎

Adrien: You love me.

The sound of someone clearing their throat interrupted Alya’s texting and she looked up just in time to see the stylish figure of Gabriel’s personal assistant slipping into the seat across from her.

“So it was you,” Alya whispered as Nathalie flagged down the waiter.

“Of course it was,” she scoffed.“I’ll have an iced tea, unsweetened and at room temperature.Thank you,” she said to the waiter, turning back to Alya and folding her hands in front of her.“So I assume you remember me,” she pursed her lips and looked down at Alya through the glasses perched on her nose.

Alya felt the urge to fidget.“Nathalie,” she replied simply. 

“Yes,” Nathalie smoothed her napkin over her lap and nodded to the waiter as they brought her drink, taking a dainty sip.“So, knowing who I am, you must realize that all of the information I gave you was valid,” she cleared her throat.“Monsieur Agreste is an interesting man.I’ve been having suspicions about him for a while, and I can’t ignore them any longer.

“And that’s why I’ve called you here today,” Alya’s eyes widened as Nathalie looked her over, her gaze becoming even more intense.“My job keeps me very busy, so I do not have time to pursue these leads by myself.So I thought that Paris’s most promising young reporter,” Alya stiffened.She didn’t have to say that so mockingly.“Would be able to follow these leads through efficiently and effectively.”

“So that’s why you sent me that message?”Alya clenched her fists under the table, uneasy.

Nathalie nodded.“Now,” she continued, pulling out her phone, “for your continued cooperation, I would be willing to provide monetary compensation.So,” the woman looked at Alya over her glasses, “name your price.”

Alya felt the urge to scoff, but she knew that wouldn’t be a good idea.But flipped her hair over her shoulder and leaned over the table, resting on her elbows.“Listen Nathalie, I’m not stupid,” she pursed her lips and looked at the woman over her glasses, “I’m not going to turn down your money.But I want you to know one thing,” Alya sat back and crossed her arms, “I’m not doing this for the money.I’m not _working_ for you.”She lowered her eyebrows and tilted her head.“I am pursuing your leads in the sake of the truth and for the safety of Paris.Not for the money.”

A cold smile tilted the edges of Nathalie’s lips.“What a melodramatic young girl,” she took another sip of her iced tea and ignored Alya’s glare.“Well, Mlle. Césaire, I won’t take any more of your time then.” She stood up smoothly, brushing off her skirt and picking up her briefcase as she pulled out her planner from the pocket.“Please tell me what you find.”

Alya watched, tensed, as Nathalie strode out of the restaurant, leaving Alya with the bill.

Huh, Alya thought, as she picked it up.She hadn’t noticed anyone bring it.

But then she looked inside.

“Fourteen Euros for an iced tea?!”

 

***

 

As Alya walked out of the restaurant, feeling strangely unsettled from the encounter with Gabriel’s assistant, she got a notification on her phone.It was a text from her sister, asking for Alya to pick something up for her on the way home.Alya sighed and changed directions, heading for the store instead of home. 

As she waited for the stoplight to turn she pulled up Twitter and scrolled a little.It was mostly normal things: art, complaints, theories, politics…

Except…huh, Alya thought. 

There was a picture of JT, Chat, and Ladybug all in the same area, but separately.Alya’s eyebrows furrowed, there wasn’t an akuma there either, and it was too early for them to be patrolling.

She checked the streets and was further stumped to see that the pictures were taken near where she was.Shel looked around, but everything seemed normal.

But as Alya looked up and caught the edge of a tail disappearing behind a chimney on the roof next to her, realization dawned and with it, irritation.

Alya turned around and headed to the building, muttering under her breath.“Stupid goddamn cat.Stupid fucking superheroes.Stupid fucking meddling asses.”

Why were they even following her?!She’d said that she could take care of herself! 

And as she stomped over to an alley, part of her couldn’t help but be stumped about why these superheroes were so stuck on her.They’d just met her for fuck’s sake!

“Hey scaredy cat!”She settled her weight on one hip and crossed her arms as she glared at the roof. “Come down here!I want a word with you!”

Slowly, cat ears and a mop of blonde hair appeared over the edge.Then two contrite, green eyes and a sheepish smile.He dropped down gracefully and leaned against the wall, trying to be casual.

“Hey Alya,” he said, his voice squeaking a little bit.But Alya just glared, shoving her glasses up her nose.“I was just in the neighborhood—“

“Oh shove it Friskies, I’m not that stupid.”Alya glared and crossed her arms again.“And the other two can come out too.”

The _zing_ of Ladybug’s yoyo and the thrum of Jade’s shell announced the others’ presence. 

“I told you guys that I didn’t need you guys following me around,” Alya said through gritted teeth, turning towards the other two as they shrunk under her ire.

“We weren’t—“

“Merde, I’m not completely oblivious Spots!”Part of Alya couldn’t believe that she was yelling at the Dream Team, the Golden Trio!(Oh wait, that was Harry Potter.)Alya began to pace.“I’m not some helpless damsel in distress you need to save!”She threw her hands up on the air as she walked, almost growling.“I was just meeting with a source!Mon Dieu!That doesn’t deserve three _superheroes_ watching me!” Alya made a frustrated noise and sat on the ground, burying her head in her hands and trying not to think about how dirty it was.

The heroes were silent for a moment before Ladybug sat down next to Alya and played with end of her pigtail.She sighed.Was she…insecure, Alya thought to herself.But, no.That couldn’t be it.She was Ladybug for pete’s sake!

“Look Alya,” she wrapped her arms around her spotted legs and rested her chin on her knees, “we were just worried about you.”

“Yeah dude,” Jade Turtle piped in, stepping closer to the two girls, “we knew you could, like, take care of yourself.We just wanted to make sure you were safe,” he scratched his nose, averting his eyes and Alya sighed, rubbing her hands over her face and under her glasses.

“Why do you guys even care?” She looked at all three of them slowly.“You just met me.”

The heroes fidgeted before Chat Noir finally spoke and Alya felt like giggling when she looked at him where he leaned against the wall.The light from the street filtered through his blonde hair and we was posed casually yet attractively.It was almost like he was a model.

“We care because you’re awesome,” he said, smirking as he sauntered towards them and sprawled on the ground next to her.“Now, why doesn’t everyone settle down a bit and I’ll tell a joke,” Jade and Ladybug groaned almost simultaneously but that didn’t deter Chat, in fact his grin grew wider.Alya rolled her eyes, silly cat.“Okay,” he spread out his hands and lifted his eyebrows, “do you want to hear a bad cat joke?”

Alya rolled her eyes again as Ladybug’s eyebrows furrowed, but JT replied.

“Dude, no.The answer is always no.”

Chat continued smiling though as he answered flippantly.“Its okay,” he flipped his hand, “I was just kitten anyway.”

Alya huffed out a laugh.That was such a dumb joke.Then she bit her lip, it was familiar, had she heard it before.Oh, she realized, Adrien told it earlier so she must have…

But her thoughts trailed off as she watched Chat laughing his ass off and something just…clicked.

“That joke,” she whispered, her eyes widening.“You’ve already told me it.”

“What?”Chat turned toward her and his eyes narrowed.“No I hav….” He trailed off, his mouth dropping open and Alya knew for sure.

“You!”She hopped up, ignoring Jade and LB’s exclamations.“You!” She pointed.

“Wait!”He held his hands up, his eyes as wide as dinner plates.“Just let me—“ but Alya was already gone.

 

***

 

She hardly paid attention to where she was going.

Pun spewing, cocky, flirtatious Chat Noir was actually mild-mannered, innocent Adrien Agreste. 

She could hardly believe it!

But Alya knew that really wasn’t true.It was so obvious, especially since she had spent more time with him.How could she not have seen it before?

Alya hardly remembered getting home, appeasing her sisters, or making dinner because her mind was so occupied.Five words kept repeating in her mind:

Adrien Agreste is Chat Noir.

Alya collapsed on her bed and covered her face with a pillow, screaming into it.  
“Woah, dude!You okay?”Came a voice from her window and Alya turned over to glare at them.

“Go away you stupid turtle,” she grumbled, turning back away from him.

Jade Turtle laughed and swung fully into the room, stepping over to her bed and sitting down next to her prone form.He tentatively rubbed her back, as if he wanted to comfort her, but he wasn’t sure whether his touch was welcome or not.Alya tensed, but then relaxed, letting him know that his touch was welcomed.

“Does it have to do with what happened today?”He asked quietly and Alya just groaned. 

“Ugh, I don’t want to talk about it,” she turned her face into her pillow for a moment before sighing and sitting up, scooting away from his hand and leaning back against the head of her bed.“Soooo,” she played with her nails, looking up at him from under her eyelashes, “what are you doing here.”

Jade cleared his throat and averted his eyes.“I wanted to see you,” he said honestly and Alya felt uncomfortable.It made her feel kind of…naked…if that was the right word…when he was that honest.

She laughed nervously, trying to ignore the atmosphere that had settled between the two teens.“Well its kind of weird for you to keep showing up in some random teenage girl’s room.What if I didn’t want you here?” She lifted her lips into a half-hearted smirk, but when she turned towards JT, the hero looked stricken.

“Oh,” he mumbled, his eyes wide, “if you didn’t want me I…I’m sorry…I didn’t mean—” he stuttered, but Alya interrupted him with a hand on his arm, smiling softly and lifting her hand to her lips, as if what she was about to say was a secret.

“I was joking,” she whispered and Jade blushed, smiling sheepishly.

“Oh.”

A sort of comfortable silence stretched over them and they kind of just sat there.But eventually Alya grew tired of the quiet.

“Do you want to play a video game?”She asked and Jade agreed.

 

***

 

 

So it turned out that both of them were actually horrible at video games.

But luckily, after both of them resorting to button smashing, Jade started talking about the video effects, which evolved into talking about video in general, which made Alya realize that he was a huge film nerd.

“Okay, okay Spielberg,” JT froze at that nickname for some reason, but Alya continued.“I get it, the size or whatever of the video matters a lot.”

Jade rolled his eyes through his goggles and Alya realized that he was just sitting in his armor on her bed, playing video games on her computer.How was this real life?

Jade continued to jabber on about shots or something, but he actually gave Alya some cool advice about how to edit and film videos for her blog.

After a couple hours, they got pretty tired of losing at video games and Alya suggested they watch something.As a joke, she put of some old Ninja Turtles cartoons, but despite his eye roll, Jade seemed to enjoy it.

They watched a few episodes, scooting closer and closer on her bed and around 2 am Alya’s eyes began to feel heavy.She dropped her head onto Jade’s shoulder pad and ignored his tensing muscles, trying to get comfortable.Surprisingly, the material wasn’t that uncomfortable.She wiggled a bit.Not that uncomfortable at all, Alya thought as her eyelids drooped. 

She woke up the next morning to an empty bed and the sun streaming through her open window.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Title from Are You Satisfied, by Marina and the Diamonds


	10. and a little trouble only makes for a good time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alya’s leg wouldn’t stop shaking. Mlle. Mendeleiv was talking about science or something but Alya couldn’t take her eyes away from the back of Adrien’s perfectly coiffed blonde hair.  
> Even there hair was the same. Which made sense because they were the same person. But honestly, mess it up a bit and…  
> BAM!  
> He was Chat Noir!  
> How could she have missed it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from Trouble by Iggy Azalea

Alya’s leg wouldn’t stop shaking.Mlle. Mendeleiv was talking about science or something, but Alya couldn’t take her eyes away from the back of Adrien’s perfectly coiffed blonde hair.

Even their hair was the same.(Which made sense because they were the same person.)But honestly, mess it up a bit and…

_BAM!_

He was Chat Noir!

How could she have missed it?

Alya wasn’t…upset…she was just sort of shocked.In fact she just felt kind of incredulous and a little frustrated.

Adrien hadn’t even made eye contact when he’d rushed into the classroom 20 minutes late (in fact, he’d seemed to avoid it.)He’d just apologized and swung into his seat, his back tense and his fists clenched. 

And that’s how they’d spent the last four hours.Alya staring at Adrien and Adrien vibrating under Alya’s gaze. 

(His nervous energy was familiar too, Chat _never_ stopped moving.It was so obvious now that she knew.)

Finally, after what seemed like forever, the bell rang, and instead of shooting out of her seat and grabbing Adrien by the scruff of his neck (as she’d been planning), Alya just sat there. 

What was she supposed to do?He obviously knew that she knew, and probably knew that she knew that he knew that she knew.So how should she…address the cat in the room?

Her question was answered for her when Adrien turned around in his chair, gave her a look like a scared kitten and scampered out of the room. _Then_ Alya shot out of her chair.She had to follow him.

He was taking the stairs two steps at a time by time Alya got out of the classroom.

“Hey!”She yelled, chasing after him.“Wait up!”But he just sped up, running out of the school and onto the sidewalk.“Where are you even going?!”

He ran until he reached the end of a street, where his cunning escape plan was ruined by an unfortunately timed stoplight.Or…unfortunate for Adrien anyway.

He jammed his finger into the walk button multiple times, but Alya had caught up to him and he gave up, leaning his forehead against the pole as she wheezed and panted.

“Whew,” she bent over, coughing, “I need to get in better shape.”She caught her breath after a few moments and stood up.“Adrien,” she said and the boy froze, still facing away from her, “I can’t believe I didn’t see it before,” she walked toward him and set a hand on his shoulder, smiling as he turned around slowly.“I’m glad.”

His eyes widened.“I thought…when you ran away…” he trailed off, still not meeting her gaze. 

Alya ran a hand through her hair, laughing nervously as she scratched at the back of her neck.“I’m sorry about that, I was just…” she waved her hands in the air, at a loss for words.“Confused, I guess.Maybe shocked…”She turned away from him and sat down on the curb of the cobblestone street.“I think I was a little frustrated with myself for not figuring it out earlier,” she huffed a laugh and rolled her eyes.“Some journalist I am.”

Adrien sat down next to her, hugging his arms to himself.“No,” his voice was a little shaky, but grew in strength as he talked.“You’re an amazing journalist.I wouldn’t expect you to see that quiet, well-behaved, loser Adrien was flirty, arrogant Chat Noir,” he laughed self-deprecatingly and tugged on his ear. But Alya tugged on his wrist and drew his hand into hers, holding it tightly and prompting his green eyes to meet her brown.

“You are _not_ lame,” she said softly and a smile curled the edge of her lips.“Well…you’re jokes are lame but…”

“Hey,” Adrien laughed, “my jokes are pawsome!”He smiled and his fingers tangled with hers.

Alya groaned.“I’m sure that’s what you think.”

They fell into a silence that was almost comfortable, but Alya could tell Adrien still had something to say.

“So,” he looked down and pulled his hand back into his lap.“You weren’t disappointed?”His voice was almost a whisper, and Alya had to strain to hear it.But when she did, she scoffed.

“As if, what would I be disappointed about?”She rolled her eyes and slung and arm around his shoulders.Or…tried at least.He was little too tall and his shoulders a bit too broad.

Adrien smiled and turned toward her, pulling her fully into a hug.

“Thank you Alya,” he whispered, his voice muffled into her shoulder, and Alya smiled, rubbing his back.

 

***

 

Alya moaned in agony, throwing her phone across the room.“Why does that boy love to torture me so?”

Marinette laughed and turned away from her physics homework and smiled at Alya, where she was reclined on the chaise.“Is Adrien sending more Jimmy Neutron memes?”

Alya flung her arm over her eyes and sighed dramatically.“No, his thing is now history of Japan memes!”Alya looked at Marinette from under her arm.“I don’t understand what you see in that boy Marinette.”

Mari rolled her eyes and sat back in her desk chair.“Plenty of things,” she chuckled.“There’s more to him than memes you know.”

Alya laughed, sitting up.“Yeah, there’s the puns too,” she tilted her head.“Sooooo,” she tapped her lip and Marinette tensed, “you guys have been pretty chummy lately.”

Marinette giggled nervously.“You’re one to talk.” Alya waved her hand in the air and continued.

“Are you going to ask him out,” Alya figured it was better to get straight to the point, though she regretted it a little when she noticed the color Mari’s face was turning.Was it healthy to be that red?

“Alya,” Marinette laughed almost hysterically, blushing from her roots straight down beneath her shirt.“Why would I do that?” She tucked her hair behind her ear and turned to her homework.“He doesn’t like me like that.”

“Oh, come on!”Alya got up, walking over and settling against Marinette’s desk.“You can’t seriously think that?!”The look on Marinette’s face mad it clear that she did, Alya chortled.“Oh girl, that boy has got it _so_ bad for you.”If it was possible, Marinette blushed even harder.

“What?!”Marinette gaped. “Of course he doesn’t!He’s _Adrien Agreste_!”Marinette looked almost scandalized. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?”Alya narrowed her eyes and Marinette hunched into herself.

“Nothing,” she said defensively.“Just that he doesn’t like me.”Her voice grew quieter.“So stop saying he does.”

Alya sighed and brushed her fingers through one of Marinette’s ponytails.“Girl, he would be lucky to have you.”

Marinette looked away, brushing her bangs out of her eyes.“Well it doesn’t matter anyway,” she said briskly, her shoulders hiking up.“Who says I even like him anymore?”

“Wait what?!”Alya’s mouth dropped open and she grabbed Marinette’s shoulders, pulling her friend towards her.“What’s that supposed to mean?!”

“Nothing, nothing,” Marinette squeaked, trying to pry Alya’s hands from her shirt, but failing in the face of the girl’s surprisingly strong grip.“I just might not like him anymore,” she shrugged and looked at the ground.“I don’t know…”She sighed and bit on her thumbnail.“I just…maybe I’ve been so focused on him that I’ve been overlooking other people.People who don’t deserve to be looked over.”Marinette’s brilliant blush had faded to a soft pink and her face curved into a fond smile.

Alya couldn’t believe her eyes, but she kept her voice surprisingly calm.“People?”This story just kept getting better and better.“So there’s someone else?”

Marinette twisted in her chair and played with a strand in her hair.“I’m not saying that…”

Alya’s grin was sharklike.“But…”

“But,” Marinette responded smirking a little, “there might be.”

“Deets! Deets! Deets!” Alya hissed, bouncing up and down and shaking Marinette’s desk.

“Alya, calm down,” Marinette giggled.“He just…visits me sometimes,” she blushed a little more.

“In the bakery…” Alya’s mouth was practically watering for more information.

“On…” Marinette paused, blushing even harder.“On my balcony.”

Alya rose her eyebrows.“Oh Marinette, scandalous.”

“No, no, no!” Marinette waved her hands and shook her head almost violently.“Its nothing like that!We’re just friends!”Her face was like a glowing tomato at this point and Alya couldn’t help but laugh.

“Oh, I’m sure,”Alya leaned forward a little.“So, tell me more.”

“Well,” Marinette began, smiling as she flipped her hair over her shoulders, “he’s the biggest dork,” she laughed, but her tone was affectionate,“but he’s sweet,” she said.“He tells the dumbest jokes, like, all the time.And he always talks about anime,” Marinette groaned.“Like, I enjoy anime.But he takes it to a whole new level,” she shook her head, putting her chin in her hands.“He’s cute too,” she sighed, then continued, almost under her breath to herself.“My cute little kitty.”

“He sounds like a hand full,” Alya laughed, then paused.“Wait,” she said, narrowing her eyes, “did you say kitty?”

“Oh,” Marinette blushed again, coughing a little as she laughed nervously.“Yeah, kitty…um, that’s a little nickname I have for him.”

Bad jokes.

Sweet.

Kitty.

_Anime_.

**Holy fuck**.

That stupid cat.

Laughter burst out of Alya in a loud bark, startling Marinette. 

“Alya, are you okay?” Marinette asked, her blush fading as her eyes became worried, but Alya couldn’t stop laughing, huge heaving laughs that took away her breath.

Adrien, as Chat Noir, had been coming to visit Marinette on her balcony!

This was too ridiculous!

Alya’s laughter faded into giggles, and the giggles didn’t stop even when she got home.

 

***

 

Alya still burst out with a little laughter every once in a while as she sat in her room doing her homework.But eventually, she sobered up when a notification on her phone let her know that Nathalie had sent her a text:

Unknown: Let me know when you have any new leads.

it had read.Alya pursed her lips, she couldn’t keep avoiding this forever.So she opened up her web browser and started looking up Gabriel Agreste.

Blah blah blah fashion, blah blah blah a bunch of other boring stuff that Alya already knew.

Alya sat back in her seat and groaned.There was nothing here that she hadn’t seen before.But, she thought as she watched a video of one of his interviews, she couldn’t deny that his voice was eerily similar to the one that haunted her nightmares.

“What are you watching?”

Alya shrieked, whirling around and clutching her hand to her heart.

“Jesus fucking Christ don’t scare me like that!” Alya picked up a magazine and whacked Jade Turtle with it. 

Jade just laughed and pointed behind him.“You really shouldn’t leave the window open, you never know who may just come on inside.”

“Oh yeah,” Alya asked, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow.“Maybe like a giant reptile with delusions on grandeur?”

Jade scoffed, sitting down on the bed and reclining against the back, making himself comfortable.“Please, I am a hero in a half shell.”

“Turtle power,” Alya raised an eyebrow, her tone dry.But Jade just grinned goofily.

“Exactly.”

Alya rolled her eyes.“You are the biggest dweeb.”

Jade opened his mouth and looked like he was about to say something before something behind her seemed to catch his attention. 

“Nathalie…” he said softly and Alya froze.“That was who you were meeting?”His voice was low and serious and Alya nodded hesitantly.“And she thinks Gabriel Agreste is Hawkmoth.” This wasn’t a question but Alya nodded slowly anyway.“I wish that didn’t make so much sense,” he whispered, looking pained.

“I don’t know for sure,” Alya said softly.“I’m just looking into it.”

“But its likely,” Jade continued, his eyebrows furrowed.

“Yeah,” Alya played with the ends of her hair, “its likely.”

Jade sighed and ruffled his hands through his hair, pushing the hood off his head.“You really shouldn’t look into this anymore Alya.”

Alya reared back.“Why?!”She asked, shocked.

“Because what if he _is_ Hawkmoth?!”Jade replied, sitting up and glaring at her.

“Then you, Ladybug, and Chat Noir can defeat him!”Alya crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes at him.“I don’t understand.What’s the problem?”

“The problem is that it’ll put you in danger!”Jade hissed, standing up and beginning to pace.“You’re already in enough danger with the Ladyblog.Its like you have _no regard_ for your personal safety!”His hands gestured wildly as he walked back and forth from her bed to her window. 

“What is it with you superheroes being so overprotective?”Alya scoffed, standing up and walking over to him.“I’ve been fine so far!”

“Yes,” Jade’s eyes were manic.“Yes, because you are _soooo_ extremely lucky!Dude!You don’t know how many times I’ve almost gotten a heart attack watching you run into danger!”

“Look here Mr. Superhero,” Alya growled, standing chest to chest with him as she pointed her finger in his face.“I can take care of myself.I don’t need you worrying about me when you don’t need to!”

“Well,” Jade rolled his eyes and gritted his teeth, “I wouldn’t worry if you weren’t so reckless all the time!”

“Its called _bravery_!”

“Its called stupidity!”He groaned and clenched his fists, turning away from her.“Its okay to be scared Alya!” He began to pace the room again, running his hands through his short, dark hair.“But tell me and I’ll help you, so you don’t _have_ to be scared!”He sat on her desk chair and rubbed his hands over his face.“Things aren’t as scary when your with someone else,” he finished, his voice muffled, and shook her head.

“It feels like you’re talking about something else,” she crossed her arms, biting her lip.“I don’t understand why you are making such a big deal out of this.”

Jade sighed, getting up and moving towards the window.“Look, dude,” he leaned his head against the glass, “just be careful, okay?”His voice was soft and Alya moved over to him and rested her hand on his shoulder.

“I’ll be okay,” she whispered, moving her hand to his neck and tugging on the short strands of his hair on the base oh his neck.“You don’t have to worry so much.”

Jade was silent as he leaned into Alya’s hand and turned, tucking his cheek into her palm.The air felt electric as his golden eyes met Alya’s.She didn’t think she could look away if she wanted to. 

Alya held her breath, almost afraid that her breath would ruin the moment, like it would pop and made as if it had never existed in the first place. 

“I think I do,” Jade breathed, his eyebrows lowering, and Alya pursed her lips, sighing softly.She turned away, pulling her hands into the pockets of her sweater. 

Jade sighed and opened the window, hopping up on the ledge.

“I’ll…um…see you soon, maybe,” he said, suddenly awkward as he scratched his nose and crossed his arms.

“Yeah,” Alya breathed, not looking as he slipped out the window and flew off.She sighed and walked over to her bed, sitting down and wrapping her arms around her legs.

There was something about him.Something that didn’t sit right in her stomach.Not…like…in an uncomfortable way.But…in a way that made her feel like she knew him.There was just an overwhelming feeling of familiarity that settled on her shoulders whenever she was around him.

She groaned, getting back up and walking toward the window, leaning against the frame and looking out at the blinking city lights.

Was it possible that she knew him outside of being Jade Turtle? 

Was it possible that she knew him in real life?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have decided to share with you the actual chapter summary:  
> next day at school alya is like ik and adri is like oh fuck.  so she corners him at lunch and talks to him and they hug it out she knows like okay.  they good friends yes.  later alya goes to marionettes and they talk about adrien “he doesn’t like her” alyas like ur stupid but okay.  then she get idea like is there someone else?  marinette tells story of guy who visits after dark for a little while and alya’s like oh shit u like him marinette like wtf no but she lying.  alya like tell me more marinette says he like a kitty and alya like holy fuck its chat noir then laughs for like 20 minutes bc she knows actually adrien.  hahahaha.    
> alya goes home does homework and works on gabriel theory watches videos of him and tries to ignore the fact he sounds exactly like hawmotth sounded in her brain.  window is open cuz she likes breeze and jade comes through window like lol heeeeey they talk idk about gabriel and he tells her to stop going after she’s like are you kidding I’m a reporter he’s like ur a civilian u could get hurt and she like shut up ur not in charge of me she’s like I’m not scared he’s like ur never scared of anything and she’s like what that sounds familiar.  he’s like never mind and sulky leaves and she’s like something familiar hhhhmmmmm.  


	11. it had to happen sometime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The thought wouldn’t leave her mind.  
> She just couldn’t push it out as it wiggled and wormed its way inside her skull.  
> What if I know him?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well its been a while. To be fair though, I do have an excuse. I was in New Zealand in 12 days with no wifi, so I couldn't exactly post any new chapters.  
> But here it is, its short and rushed, and hardly anything happens, but its here.

The thought wouldn’t leave her mind.

She just couldn’t push it out as it wiggled and wormed its way inside her skull.

_What if I know him?_

What if she’d passed him on the street?What if he was a waiter at a restaurant she frequented?A barista that knew her regular coffee drink?

What if he was in her class?

_What if he was her friend?_

Alya usually tried not to think about these things, but as she walked to school and sat down in homeroom in a daze, _she just couldn’t stop_.

She’d always tried to be respectful of secret identities, because they were secret for a reason, she thought to herself as she pulled out her tablet and began to get ready for class.But after she’d figured out Adrien’s secret (that he was _Chat Noir!!_ ) she couldn’t stop herself from wondering who else she knew was a secret superhero.

Alya sighed and put her head in her hands, glancing over at the empty seat next to her.Why was Marinette always late, she thought exasperatedly, she lived right by the school!She should either get a better alarm or not stay up so late sewing.That girl had no time management skills, Alya thought, almost shaking her head.

Wait.

Could Marinette be…

No! _No way!_

Alya almost burst out laughing.That had been the most _ridiculous_ thought she’d ever had!

Marinette as Ladybug, as if!

Alya smiled to herself as she turned to the front, class should be starting soon.

“Bruh! You have to get it!”Nino’s incredulous voice broke through Alya’s thoughts, and she turned toward them, realizing that the were talking about a new video game.

“I know,” Adrien sighed, pouting as he pulled his belongings from his bag onto the table.“But my dad says that I have enough video games, and that I should focus on school.”

“Dude!” Nino sounded scandalized.“That’s totally whack!This game is rad, you’re dad is being so totally lame!”He put a hand on the blond’s shoulder.“But you know what I’m gonna do for you broski?I’m gonna let you play my totally radical game, because it is off the hizzle!And you can’t miss out on that.”

Off the hizzle, Alya chuckled.Nino’s slang was so weird.No one even used that anymore. 

Well, she thought to herself, JT used it.But he always used weird outdated slang.

As Alya went back to watching her friends a jolt went through her body.

**No**.

_No way_.

No no no no no no no no **no**.

That was not possible.

But when Alya watched Nino laughing with Adrien, she envisioned a pair of green goggles over his face, and it couldn’t be denied.

Nino was Jade fucking Turtle.

Merde.

 

***

 

Alya fumed all the way through first and second period. 

He’d said that he didn’t want to be the kind of guy who tried to force a girl to like him, but here he was coming to flirt with her as a fucking superhero! 

Granted, he hadn’t blatantly flirted, or really mentioned anything about liking her.

Alya deflated. 

She was still mad though.Mostly about the fact that he’d some some manipulative bullshit with his secret identity. 

But no, Alya sighed, rubbing her eyes and waving Marinette away when she gave her a look, that wasn’t really what had happened.Alya knew Nino better than that.She doubted he’d even thought about what he was doing, that boy was too impulsive for his own good.

Alya stared at the back of the boy’s red snapback.It was really obvious now that she thought about it.They were both such huge nerds.

Alya coughed to cover her chuckle, smiling innocently when the teacher threw her a suspicious look. 

Alya wasn’t actually that upset now that she thought about it.She didn’t even know how she felt about it, just that her mind was racing, her insides felt jittery and her hands were shaking.

Emotions twisted and collided inside of her.She wasn’t mad at him, she told herself.It was unfair to be mad at him, she repeated inside of her mind. 

_No it isn’t_ , part of her screamed.But she shook her head.She couldn’t be mad at Nino for flirting with her, he probably got carried away with his superhero persona.And she couldn’t expect him to tell her that he was Jade Turtle.She shouldn’t be angry about that.After all, it was a _secret_ identity for a reason.Alya tapped her stylus on the edge of her tablet, biting her lip.If he’d told her, who knows how much danger that would put her _and him_ in. 

Alya was brave, but she wasn’t stupid.She didn’t want Hawkmoth after her.

This was so weird, Alya thought, ceasing her tapping. 

Nino was Jade Turtle. 

Nino was a _superhero_.

Alya blushed.And he’d flirted with _her_.

She internally slapped herself.Don’t get starry-eyed over a boy, her thoughts scolded, he was still just dorky Nino.

Not _just_ , her mind whispered.

A crazy thought popped into Alya’s brain.If Nino was Jade Turtle, and Adrien was Chat Noir, maybe she knew Ladybug as well.

Excitement fizzled through Alya’s body, tickling the tips of her fingers and toes.Jade Turtle and Chat Noir, they were cool, sure.They were superheroes, how could they not be?

But Ladybug…

Ladybug was her idol, the coolest of the cool.Alya smiled softly, she was beautiful and strong, and the best role model a girl could ask for.

If she knew Ladybug…Alya shook her head.If she knew Ladybug, she would probably explode.

But there was no way. 

Alya didn’t know any girls with black pigtails, blue eyes, a huge sense of responsibility, a hero complex…

Oh fuck no.

Alya’s eyes drifted to her neighbor without her consent.

There was no fucking way.

Marinette chewed on the edge of her pencil as she stared at her sketchbook, in the middle of some design.The determined look on her face was so familiar.She’d seen it during every akuma attack.

Alya wanted to laugh. 

Of course.Of course it was Marinette.Of course her three best friends in the world were The Heroes of Paris™. 

Why was she even surprised?

Now that she thought about it, they were the perfect superheroes.Marinette was an over-achiever, a perfectionist, responsible.She was smart and creative, and was amazing under pressure.Adrien’s flirty, funny side came out with Chat Noir.

Oh, Alya realized, that must be the way he let’s loose from his controlling father.

Ladybug and Chat Noir had always balanced each other.

But then came Jade Turtle.

He was kind, he was caring, and he was wise.Where Ladybug and Chat Noir had the tendency to throw themselves straight into danger, disregarding their personal safety, it was clear that Jade Turtle was more level-headed.He was good with evacuating civilians and attempting to reason with the akumas.

Though Ladybug and Chat Noir were technically balanced, Jade had grounded them.Made them even better than they were.

Alya set her chin in her hands and closed her eyes.Where did she fit?

Alya sighed and shook herself internally. 

No moping, she lectured herself sternly.Even if she wasn’t a superhero, she was important enough.She ran the Ladyblog and she could report any akumas nearby.It may not be much, Alya looked at her three friends, her mouth set into a determined line, but she had to try.She would help them any way she could.

 

***

Lunch was bizarre. 

She sat in a cafe, eating soup, and around her sat Ladybug, Chat Noir, and Jade Turtle, _also_ eating sandwiches, soup, and in the case of Adrien “Sweet Tooth” Agreste, a huge slice of chocolate cake.

This was normal, Alya reminded herself, she had lunch with these people everyday.It shouldn’t be weird…But it was.

Despite the fact that she knew that it was only Adrien and Marinette flirting across from her and only Nino sitting next to her, she couldn’t help superimposing masks over their faces in her mind. 

They were her friends, she had to stop freaking out. 

As both Adrien and Marinette blushed tomato red at something Adrien had said, Alya realized that they didn’t know either.

She was upset that she hadn’t known, but they were _partners_ , close as any two people can be.They didn’t even know that it was _each other they were pining after_. 

Alya fought the urge to laugh.Adrien loved Ladybug, but he visited Marinette at night as Chat Noir.Marinette loved Adrien, but she was beginning to grow fond of Chat Noir. 

It was like some cheesy YA novel!Alya closed her eyes and shook her head and began to chuckle, ignoring Nino’s odd look.How was this real?How was this her life?

Alya’s quiet huffs turned to giggles and snorts, laughter that took the air from her stomach.Her three friends looked at her oddly.

“Alya—“ Marinette began, but Alya rose abruptly, clutching her heaving stomach.

“Sorry…I…”She couldn’t even speak for the gasping laughs forcing themselves out of her throat.“I just…” she pointed at the bathroom and ran off, ignoring Marinette calling after her and Adrien telling her to let her friend be.

Alya pushed her way through the door and locked herself into a stall, turning her back towards the door and sinking down to the floor, trying to ignore what might have been on it.

Her giggles took on a hysterical edge as Alya closed her eyes and ran her hands through her hair. 

How was this her life?

Why did this have to be her life?

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so sorry for this.  
> *sighs* well as long as I'm in for the long haul, you better check me out on tumblr @peachgreenteelemonade


End file.
